Let's Play a Game
by Kowareta1468
Summary: Four teens, never once meeting each other, are thrown into a sick, twisted game, meant to teach them the value of their lives. Love and lust, envy and loss. Will their own sins kill them, or save them? After seeing stick, twisted games, they are all sent to the Rehabilitation Center to recover. There, they meet other teenagers who have gone through what they have.
1. Chapter 1: Envy (8-21)

**Thank you if you take the time to read this story. Just a few important notes before you read the story:**

**Chapter Title: I will always put the date I upload the chapter into the title in parenthesis. This helps me and guests out a lot. I'll put the month first, than the date. So, for example, if I posted the chapter on May 30, I would put (5-30). Make sense? I hope so.**

****Other Stories: I hope that after you read this, you all check out my others stories. They are mostly all Fairy Tail with the pairing GraLu. I have a couple other pairings, though.****

**Requests: I take story requests, so if you have a certain pairing and/or story-line in mind, let me know and I'd be happy to have your dream come true :)**

**Reviews: Reviews encourage me to update and write faster and more! So make sure you review! And, for every 100 reviews, I give out a special prize, being a story dedicated to the 100th reviewer! (Also counts for 200th, 300th, 400th, ect.) This story can be for any anime I've seen (make sure you ask if you have one other than Fairy Tail or just check the list on my profile). I will do a full story, or just a one-shot if I have a lot of stories going on. So make sure you review after reading any chapter!**

**Story Idea: This just sort of came to me. This story will be kind of violent and depressing, but I hope you all still enjoy it. I'm debating whether or not to make this NaLu or GraLu, so you'll have to let me know as you read.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

"Well aren't you hard working," Jellal said in a teasing voice, taking his seat.

Erza's eyebrow twitched. She gripped her pencil so hard it snapped. "I'm studying for the big test tomorrow!" she defended herself. She puffed out her cheeks and looked away from him. "Just because you don't have to study doesn't mean I can afford not to."

"Learning just comes easy to me." He folded his legs over his desk and put his hands behind his head. "A spaz like you wouldn't understand."

"I am not a spaz!" She yelled, jumping out of her seat. Her chair fell into her legs, knocking her forward. Her face fell straight into her textbook. The laughter from the man beside her made her quickly sit down, tapping her foot.

"I would love it if you demonstrated that non-spaz move again. Or maybe you have others?" he continued to tease her.

"You're an idiot!" She got up, slower this time, and went to walk out of the room. He quickly caught her wrist. She jerked her hand back so fast she fell on her butt.

"Jeez, I just touched you." He laughed and turned around in his seat. "You really are a spaz."

Erza was about to say something back, but the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. She bit back her tears and ran out of the room, not bothering to grab her school bag.

She lived very close to the school, so she ran all the way home. Her mother greeted her at the door, but she ignored her. She passed her father, who was reading in the living room. Swinging her bedroom door open, she entered her room. Everything was perfectly positioned, just as one would expect from the Vice President of the Student Council. Of course, Jellal was first, just like he was at everything.

The first thing Erza did was pull out the drawer to her nightstand. She grabbed the silver knife that shimmered in the light as she turned it. She made sure to clean it after every use.

Erza Scarlet cuts herself. Many scars litter her arms and wrists. If anyone touched her, she jerks away in fear that they will see her skin. On this day, though, she takes it too far.

With a long swipe, she cuts her left wrist open. She barely winces, pain just a fading memory as of late. She swiped her other wrist before putting the knife down. Letting the blood drip to the floor, she went over to her closet. She pulled out every piece of clothing she owned and threw it on the bed. Grabbing the knife again, she started shredding the fabric.

Her clothing in shambles, she went back to cutting herself. She added small slashes to the skin near her left elbow down to that wrist. She sighed in content, welcoming the slight feeling of pain. She did the same thing to her other arm, but when she got to her wrist, she cut a lot deeper than she intended. Blood poured out of the wound at a faster rate than ever before. At first it was nice, but then it started to scare her. She was beginning to feel dizzy. Looking up, the last thing she saw was the door to her room opening before everything went black.

* * *

**I really hope you all stay to read the next chapter! This is the first of four "prologues." I really have big plans for this story, using many different genres, so I really think any one of you would like this.**

**Please support my other stories!**

**Reviews make me happy!**


	2. Chapter 2: Lust (8-23)

**A big thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Once again, this chapter is short. I might be updating later tonight, though. This is the second of four prologues. I hope all enjoy!**

* * *

Sunlight streamed onto Gray's face. He let out a deep groan, shielding his eyes. His head was pounding. It felt like someone was stabbing his gut.

"Gray, it's time to wake up," the sweet voice of Wendy reached his ears. She was the one who pulled the curtains aside. It just so happened that she shooed out her brother's guest earlier in the morning, as well. It was a routine that she wasn't exactly fond of, but she had to do it.

"Give me five more minutes," he mumbled, rolling over onto his stomach. The stale scent of sex and alcohol reached his nose. At the moment, that was enough to make him want to throw up. He cursed and got out of bed.

"Do you want something to eat?" Wendy asked. She followed her brother out if his room and to the bathroom. He slammed the door closed, but it wasn't like she wanted to be in there with him anyways.

Gray emerged a few minutes later, looking just as awful as he did going in. His hair was in disarray, his clothing absent aside from his boxers, a few bruises here and there, and a glare that could kill. That was the man that Wendy found herself loving to the moon and back. She was only eight, which was the fruitful age of wishing to marry your brother. Living alone with him, she sometimes imagined that they already were. It really just showed that she would love him no matter what.

"I'm fine," he said in regards to her earlier question about food. He moved past her and went to the kitchen. Opening up the pantry, he pulled out one of the dozens of bottles of alcohol in all sizes and shapes.

"Isn't it early?" Wendy asked. She was very mature for her age, actually. She knew that drinking was something adults did late at night, but Gray did it all day long.

Gray paused. He opened the pantry back up and grabbed a second bottle. "I'll be in my room." He brushed past her once again.

Wendy had to go to school after that, so she had no way of knowing that on this day, he would drink a little too much. He would drown his sorrows a little too deeply.

For Gray, it seemed like all his problems came back to him at once. He lost count of how many bottles he drank. And by himself, drinking that much is deadly. Well, it was. He passed out at about seven bottles.

He had no way of knowing that was the last time he would ever fall asleep.


	3. Chapter 3: Love (8-23)

**So this is the third of four prologues. I'll probably post the fourth tomorrow. I hope you enjoy! By the way, you are all probably confused at this point, right? Well you'll understand soon enough. I hope you all stick with this story! I promise that it'll be worth it!**

* * *

"Don't think that you brats can get away with not doing the dishes!" Makarov yelled.

Lucy came running into the room. "I'm so sorry!" she apologized, bowing. She felt someone grab her hips, which made her shriek in surprise and stand up. She shot a playful glare to the blonde behind her.

"I was just making sure I didn't run into you," Laxus said with a smirk. "No need to get so defensive."

"You aren't fooling anyone," Makarov said with a smirk of his own. "I'm leaving here in a couple minutes to go to that meeting with the school board, so I won't be here for a couple days. Make sure that you keep-up with everything, alright? And you better go to school, Laxus! You're not skipping like you did before!"

"Come on, Old Man, I was fifteen!" Laxus defended himself.

"Yes, but you still skipped! And you took Lucy with you! I don't need you corrupting her! I have high hopes for her," Makarov counted.

"Wow, thanks," Laxus mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Don't worry, we have this under control," Lucy laughed. "You just go and enjoy your stay at the resort."

Makarov laughed awkwardly. "What resort?"

"Come on, we both know that you don't really go to a boring business meeting," Laxus said. "You guys all just meet to take a load off."

"I guess there's no hiding from you two," Makarov sighed. He checked the time on his watch. "Alright, I really need to get going. I'd say that I'll check up on you two, but I think you'll be okay." He hurried out of the room, grabbed his bags, and head out to catch his plane on time.

Laxus latched his arms around Lucy's waist. "We have the house all to ourselves tonight," he whispered in her ear.

Lucy felt chills go down her spine. She pushed on his head. "We have to clean up from dinner," she said.

He just hugged her tighter. "Aw, can't it wait? The Old Man won't even let me lay with you on the couch. I miss holding you sooooo much!" he whined, holding out the 'o' in 'so.'

"You're just a pervert, is all," she laughed, leaning back into him. She looked over onto the counter and saw that her phone was lit up, meaning she had a notification. She grabbed a hold of the arms wrapped around her waist and forced him to walk over there with her. She spun around so she could sit on the counter. He leaned over beside her. "Oh, someone tagged me in a picture on Instagram."

"'Had fun with Lucy. I think I tired her out, though?'" Laxus read the words with a clenched jaw. He looked at the picture of Lucy laying face-down on a bed. It was obvious that she had no top on, but the sheets were over her butt so one could only assume that she didn't have anything covering her there, either. "What the fuck is that?"

Lucy's eyes were wide, looking at her phone. She had spent the previous night at her friend's house. She had a swimming pool, so they both swam. The picture had to have been taken while she was sleeping. She could remember that they ended up having a mud fight, so her swimming suit was in the washer. It was actually her friend's older brother, Loke, that posted the picture. He had participated in the mud fight, so he did technically take part in making her tired.

"Laxus, I-" she tried to explain, but he interrupted her.

"Fuck, Luce," he cursed, turning away and running a hand through his hair. "Why didn't you tell me? It's better than finding out this way. Look, just because you live with me doesn't mean that we have to be together, you know. It's not like I'd kick you out or anything."

Lucy let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're not upset," she said. She was about to tell him what happened, but he interrupted her again.

"You're dead wrong if you think I'm not pissed," Laxus said, spinning back around. "How in the hell do you think to being a whore would make me happy?! I'm not looking to date some slut!" In his rage, he stormed out of the kitchen. She could clearly hear him slam the front door.

Lucy fell to her knees. "Whore" and "slut" rang through her mind like a broken song. She had always felt like she didn't deserve him, but it felt like it was finally ringing true. For the pasr couple years, whenever she was alone, she found herself falling into a dark pit in her mind. And at that moment, she found herself slipping into that pit.

With robotic movements, she got herself off the ground and went upstairs. She wandered into Laxus's room. It didn't even faze her to see his room messy with clothing everywhere. She stumbled onto his bed and crawled over to the nightstand and opebed the drawer. Fishing through the random items, she pulled out what she wanted. Wih a few tears going down her cheeks, she put it up to her head.

She he didn't think twice before pulling the trigger.


	4. Chapter 4: Loss (8-29)

**I'm sorry that I haven't been updating! School started and I've just been super busy. I'm already on Chapter 6 for this story, but I literally had no time to even post what was written. I'll be updating my other stories as I finish them. Most of them I have half a chapter done, I just need to finish it. **

**Anyways, a lot of you guys are asking about me killing everyone. Why not? No, there's actually a method to my madness. For this story to happen, everyone has to die. Good news, though! This is the last character! The next chapter will actually start the story :)**

**Please check out my other stories and review!**

* * *

The sound of music blaring reached Natsu's ears the moment he stepped out of his car. He made his way to the house that was the source of the noise. It was only a matter of time before someone called the police, so he wasn't planning on staying long.

"Hey, Natsu!" some nameless kid greeted him. Natsu was pretty popular, so almost everyone knew him. He barely knew anyone, actually. He didn't have many friends. "Everyone's smoking outside."

"Hey, Man, thanks," Natsu said, patting his shoulder. He made his way outside. It was known that he was into drugs, so of course a kid he don't know would know exactly where to send him so he could enjoy the party himself.

"The party has finally arrived!" Bora bellowed. He was the one throwing the party that evening. He went over and slung his arm around Natsu's shoulders. "Come have a joint with us!" He led him over to the side of the yard where everyone was sitting and smoking. Everyone quickly cleared a spot for the two.

"I can't stay long," Natsu said as he took a hit of the joint passed to him. He handed it to the guy beside him. "I really just came to see what I can take home."

"You ran out?" Bora asked. He took a hit of the joint in his hand and passed it to Natsu. There were three joints being passed in there circle of people.

"Gildharts has been up my ass lately," Natsu sighed, taking a hit. He passed it. "He's enforced weekly checks to my apartment."

"That sucks ass," Bora laughed. It was already his turn again.

"Hey, the guy's paying for my place. I guess I should find good hiding spots if I care that much." Natsu shrugged. He took his third hit for the night. "Okay, that's enough. I gotta drive home still. Can I get some shit so I can go home?"

"Of course, of course," Bora said. "If you're looking for pills, there's a bowl somewhere inside. Ask around for whatever else you want. Tell 'em I said it's free."

"You're a life saver," Natsu said. He made his way back inside, stumbling around only a little. He found the bowl he was told about pretty quickly. He looked inside at all the pills, varying in sizes and colors.

He's taken his fair share of pills before, but he's never farmed. He's really only heard of farming from Bora. People would go to a party, being whatever pills they could get their hands on, then add them to the bowl. With dozens of people doing that, there was really no telling what you could be taking. Honestly, he really didn't find himself caring. He shoved his hand in the bowl, grabbed a handful, and put it in his pocket.

He didn't really remember the ride back to his house. He didn't really park his car that well, either. All that mattered to him at the moment was getting inside.

Unlocking the door to his apartment, he made his way inside, only closing the door halfway. He plopped down onto his sofa and pulled all the pills from his pocket. Some rolled onto the floor, but most landed on the coffee table as intended. Grabbing the cup of flat soda beside him, he put some in his mouth. He popped some pills, then swallowed.

Doing that a few times, it didn't take long before he passed out.


	5. Chapter 5: Where am I? (9-8)

**A/N: I want to give a big thank you to everyone who reviewed in the last chapter. So I really want to start doing more things when I update, so I'll be adding some things to the author's notes. I'll try to do this with all my stories. I'll have the Review Corner, which is where I'll post my favorite reviews from the previous chapter. I'll probably always do a quote that reminds me of the chapter you're about to read, or just one I love. I'll also be putting the song I'm listening to while I post the chapter, just so you guys can see some cool songs to look up.**

**Review Corner: **

DemiseSurvive: _I can't wait for you to publish the next chapter. And by the way it sounds, it's like they are going into a labyrinth or are going to be stuck somewhere, where they have to kill other people till they are the survivors..._

CelestialTitania: _A cutter, an alcoholic, suicide, and druggie, Wow. And seriously everyone has to die?! What sort of creepy and depressing story is this exactly?! Poor Natsu! What would ever cause him to take drugs! You are gonna answer why they did all this, yeah?_

**Quote: **I'm not afraid of death. It's the stake one puts up in order to play the game of life. ~Jean Giraudoux

**Song: **White Rabbit by Egypt Central

**One more**** thing!**** As you may know, if you read my story, _Bleeding Mascara_, I am going to be writing a novel. I decided that, if a few of you wish and think its a good idea, I would invite a few people to my Google Docs to read the story as I write it. You would get to add your input, edit, and be one of the first to read it. So if you are interested, PM me! You have to have an account on FanFiction to help out. Also, I'll check for a few things. If you write your own stories, that would be great, since you have experience writing. You don't have to write to help out, though. And if just want to be there to read and say what you think, that's great, too! I could use some feedback. I'm not sure when I'll start writing, but it will be a little while, since I'd want to get ahead on all my stories on here. So you all have plenty of time to think and decide if you want to help.**

* * *

Erza snapped her eyes open. She looked at the cement below her nose. She wasn't quite sure where she was. Sitting up, she looked around. Bars extending from the floor to the ceiling were directly in front of her. Off to her left she found an old cot. There was nothing to her right or behind her.

She looked down at her arms. She was more than surprised to see them bare. There were no scars or blood. "Was I just dreaming it?" she asked herself. It seemed so real. She had cut herself to the point of being so dizzy that she passed out. But if she really did do that, then where were the marks? The pain?

Where was she?

She shakily got up to her feet. Walking along the cool surface of the cement, she reached the bars. Gripping them tightly, she tried to look down the hallways to her left and right. It was so dark that she couldn't see a thing. The only thing visible was cement wall in front of her with a small torch on it, a tiny fire at the tip. That was the only source of light for the room she was in, as well. Thinking about it, it did seem like she was in a jail cell. That couldn't have even possible, though.

X

Gray groaned as he woke up, rolling over. His body smacked hard against a cement floor. He rubbed his head and sat up. The bed beside him was not the one that he remembered falling asleep on. It was considerably smaller.

Standing up, he stretched his arms above his head. He scratched his stomach, but he was surprised to feel fabric. Looking down, he saw that he was wearing an orange jumpsuit. He would have never worn something so hideous. He looked around and soon discovered that he was in a jail cell of sorts.

"What the hell?" he asked aloud. He looked out at the torch flickering on the wall on the other side of the bars. It was very small and provided little light. He began to wonder all the more where he was.

X

Lucy sat up the second she awoke. She frantically looked around for any signs of life, but saw none. What really stood out to her was the small torch on the other side of mysterious bars. With further inspection, she discovered that she was in a jail cell wearing a bright jumpsuit.

She ran up to the bars. "No! Let me out!" she screamed. The light flickered slightly, but nothing happened. "Where am I?! Is anyone there?!"

X

Natsu's eyes flung open. He looked around. He saw a cot beside him hanging from the ceiling. Even stranger than that, he saw a torch with the fire aiming towards the ground. "That's so cool!" he exclaimed. He'd never seen fire do that before.

With a thud, his legs flipped over and his back slammed into the ground. He realized that he was just propped against the wall upside-down. He rubbed his head and sat up.

"This is weird," he mumbled. "I don't remember ever getting arrested."

X

Three loud clangs resonated through the four jail cells. The back walls all lifted, revealing the cells to one another in a plus formation. The four occupants stared wide-eyed at one another. They didn't dare step into the square space common to them all.

"I see you have all finally arrived," an eery voice spoke, sending chills down all their spines. "Erza Scarlet, Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia, and Natsu Dragneel."

With a crack, a puff of smoke appeared, quickly filling the whole area. All four of the announced parties coughed, waving there hands to try to clear the smoke. When it finally dissipated, they all saw a man standing in the center square. He had black hair that reached just past his ears and a layer of white hair beneath it. The right side of his head had a few strands tied together by red beads. His lips were black, his eyes red, and his neck tied with a belt. Oddly enough, he was wearing a tuxedo.

"I'm so glad that you could all join me," he said in a sing-song voice. He lowed his chin and smirked. "My name is Midnight, and I'm going to make your lives hell." He walked towards Erza. He stopped just before he stepped inside the square of her cell. He started walking the boarder, observing his captives. He stopped in front of Natsu.

"I have a great idea!" Midnight exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air. He spun around. "Let's play a game, shall we?"


	6. Chapter 6: Black Pills (9-28)

**I'm sorry for any spelling errors! I didn't proofread this. And I'm REALLY sorry for not updating for a month. I'm going to update all my stories today, so don't worry. Time just got away from me. I'll try to be better. Promise.**

**Please Review!**

* * *

"I have an idea!" Midnight exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air. He spun around. "Let's play a game, shall we?" He chuckled. "We'll be playing a lot of games, actually."

He walked straight towards Lucy. She visibly swallowed. "Now, what is your sin?" he asked. He put his finger under her chin, lifting it up. "Ah, yes. You're the fool that fell in love. I have the perfect game for you." He lifted his free hand and snapped his fingers.

Lucy gasped as she felt her clothes disappear. She moved to cover her body, but she found that she was handcuffed. Her body wasn't completely bare for long, though. She watched clothes appear on her body. They weren't much of clothes, though. She was wearing black thigh-high boots, a black skirt that didn't even reach her butt, and an orange bandeau. She felt her face heating up at the outfit.

"I think your friends will enjoy that a bit more, hmm?" Midnight hummed. He made a direct line for Erza. She didn't even flinch. "You're not scared of what I might dress you in? Oh well, I'll have plenty of other chances to scare you."

Erza's jumpsuit disappeared. Her clothes were already underneath. She was wearing a cotton white shirt and gray sweats. She was happily surprised at the modest outfit.

"I suppose I had my fun for the moment," Midnight said. He snapped his fingers, and Lucy's clothes changed to match Erza's. Gray's and Natsu's followed suit. "I think I'll start the first game later. For now, I'll let you all get settled."

In a puff of smoke, Midnight was gone. They found themselves all in one jail cell. It was clear that they weren't sure what to do at that point. There they were, four total strangers, in an unknown place. Luckily, Erza broke the silence.

"I'm Erza, Vice President of the Student Council at Mermaid Heal High School. I'm eighteen-years-old, so I'm a senior," she introduced herself, hoping that everyone would do the same. Luckily, they did.

"I'm Natsu. I eighteen, also a senior, at Blue Pegasus High School," Natsu introduced himself.

"I'm Gray, age nineteen. I graduated from Sabertooth last year," Gray said, taking his turn.

"I guess that leaves me," Lucy laughed. "I'm Lucy. I'm a junior at Fairy Tail High School, so I'm seventeen."

Erza nodded in approval. "Now that we all know a little bit about each other, I think we should take some time to assess the situation," she effortlessly took charge of the situation. "It seems that we were all taken by Midnight somehow. It would be nice if we are all connected somehow, but I think right now it would be best to know where we are first."

"That guy has some sort of power," Lucy said. "I didn't know it was possible to have superpowers, but he clearly does. I mean, he is doing some pretty amazing things."

"This may all just be a dream," Natsu said, shrugging. "I mean, I've never even heard of you guys until now."

"We'll drive ourselves crazy if we think like that," Erza said, shaking her head. She let out a shaky breath. "What was the last thing you all remember before waking up here?"

Silence. It was clear no one wanted to talk. They were each too much in their own world to realize each other's silence. Gray was wondering how much alcohol he had left. Lucy was thinking of her fight with Laxus. Natsu was thinking about whether or not he would be able to hide the pills before Gildharts showed up again. Finally, Erza was scratching her arms, wanting nothing more than to find something sharp.

"I think we should all go to sleep," Lucy finally said. "Maybe we'll all wake up to find this a crazy dream."

X

To all their dismay, in the morning, they were greeted by the cold floor of their cell. They looked at each other without saying anything. They weren't really sure what the could say.

"I see you're finally awake," Midnight said, snatching their attention. He was fiddling with the lock of their cell. It opened with a loud click. "It's time for breakfast." They had no other choice but to follow him.

The hallways was long and dark. Sometimes they could feel water dripping down on them. At least they hoped it was water. When they got to a large oak door, they were shoved inside a large room. There was a small card table in the center of the room. That was all.

"Please, please, come in!" Midnight exclaimed, pushing them further. He walked over the table and looked down as if he had no clue what was on the menu. He acted surprised to find four pills resting on a silver platter. "My, my, tasty, huh?" He looked right at Natsu as he said that. The pinkette paled.

"What kind of sick joke is this?" Natsu hissed. He was relieved to see that no one else seemed to accuse him of taking drugs. He wasn't sure why he cared what they though, though.

"It's time to play our first official game!" Midnight said with a disturbing smile. "As you can see, there are four pills on this table." He motioned towards the black capsules. "Three are exactly the same, while the last one has a bit of a bite to it." He laughed. "You all must take one. Good luck~"

The four exchanged glances, not sure if they should take any at all. What did he mean by "bite?" Would it kill them? Was it spicy? They weren't quite sure.

There was a clunking noise, and they all were surprised to see a timer. It was counting down from twenty seconds. "Something bad will happen if you don't take the pills before time runs out~" Midnight sang.

They didn't even move a single muscle. In now time at all, the buzzer sounded. The top of the timer popped off. Large, whispy shadows poured out the opening. Lucy screamed in horror. They all tried to run, but they were effortlessly caught. The shadows started to pierce their skin, blood splattering to the floor, mixing together. The blood swirled around until it turned purple. They were thrown towards the purple mess, which turned out to be a hole.

A collective gasp was let out as everyone fell to their knees. They looked up to see that there was still eighteen seconds left. It was all an illusion. That didn't stop them from jumping up towards the table, though. They all grabbed a pill and swallowed it without any liquid.

They all waited patiently, but nothing happened. They couldn't tell which pill had a bite to it, since it didn't seem to effect any of them.

"Very good," Midnight said, clapping. "You all cleared the first game. The pills were all safe. I just needed to teach you all that you need to follow what I say, despite the consequences." He started walking away.

"Wh-what about the shadows?" Lucy asked nervously.

"Hmm?" Midnight hummed, looking over his shoulder. An unnatural smirk spread across his features. "What shadows?"

They didn't have time to worry about what he said, because before they knew it, they were back in individual cells. They couldn't even ask each other. But even though they were in separate rooms, they all thought the same thing.

What the hell is going on?


	7. Chapter 7: Just Cut Yourself (10-26)

**A/N: This chapter is pretty short, but I really want to keep it at one game per chapter. And the next chapter will be much longer. As for the Review Corner, I just couldn't decided which reviews were my favorite! So a lot will be featured.**

**Review Corner: **

CelestialTitania: _Is it bad that I'm loving this story? The insanity is beautifully coordinated and there's an active action in every sentence of the story. This might be my favourite story of your's yet as of now second to only Bleeding Mascara._

ThatWeirdGirlOverThere: _Oh, oh, oh, oh! I can't wait for the next chapter! I loooooove this. Waaaay too much. *wants to scream but can't because people is sleeping* Bye! P.S.: I think Lucy might have worn that in the manga/anime (you know what I mean)...  
Now Really, Bye!_

BitterSweet Crazy: _Okay that's what I'm wondering...What the hell is going on? I guess Midnight has a suck game going on..._

BlueLight4: _Seriously.. can i ask the same question? what the hell is going on? xD i really like the progress of this do update!_

**Next to be Updated: My Summer Romance **

**Remember to review and support my other stories!**

* * *

They didn't really know how much time had passed before they were gathered again. They didn't seem to get hungry, so days could have passed without them knowing. Lucy busied herself by making slashes with chalk on the wall for every five minutes that passed, but she stopped after a few hundred slashes. Gray tossed the empty cup that he found in his cell around. Natsu had a bunch of little pebbles. Midnight seemed to just have something in each of their cells to remind them of their sins, except for Lucy, since chalk didn't really seem to mean anything.

Erza wasn't quite so lucky. She found a glass box under her bed. Inside was a razor blade. She tried and tried, but the box never opened a crack. She even tried throwing it against the wall. It seemed more logical for it to be plastic, but it was definitely glass. She was tortured the most, since her peace was only a thin sheet of magical glass away. At least, magic glass was the only explanation.

The four were gathered in a surprisingly comfortable looking room. There were two couches, a coffee table, a large TV, and a billiards table. There was a note on the coffee table saying to just enjoy themselves. It did seem suspicious, but they figured they should enjoy the peace while it lasted.

Lucy and Erza sat together on one of the couches. The blonde had her knees pulled up to her chest, her back against the arm of the couch. Erza was sitting cross-legged facing Lucy, so her back was against the armrest, as well.

"So do you have anyone special at home?" Lucy asked. She wasn't comfortable just staring at each other, so she decided to break the silence.

Erza tensed up at the question. She didn't really have anyone important in her life. Jellal's face did haunt her, though. He wasn't special. He was just her rival. They hated each other. "I don't have anyone," she whispered. "That's probably why I'm here."

Lucy shifted. "What do you mean?" She was really wondering why everyone was there. They were all wondering that. It was clear to each of them that they killed themselves, but they didn't know each other's pain and actions.

Erza sighed. "I cut myself. That time I did too deeply." She brushed her bangs out of her eyes, only for them to fall back into place. "I don't really think anyone will miss me, though."

The conversation seemed to die there. The room feel silent besides the clacking as the boys played pool. They hadn't talked, and they weren't planning on it.

X

"I'm pleased to see that you could all make it!" Midnight exclaimed, clasping his hands together. "You are going to love today's game, Erza."

The four captives were brought to a room. They weren't sure what size or what was contained, since the room was completely black. That just made Midnight's voice seem more ominous, his words bouncing off every inch of the place.

"As you may know by now, Little Erza likes to play with blades. So, in honor of her hobby, we are going to play a little game." The way he said "hobby" left none of them at ease.

The room suddenly lit up. Midnight seemed to enjoy putting things on tables, because there were four tables in the room forming a square. Looking closely, each table has a different weapon. One has daggers, one had small blades like razors, another had swords, and the last one had many pieces of barbed wire.

"You will all stand at a station. Afterwards, you get to pick which items from your table you'd like to use. You get to take turns using them on each other. Erza will have fun with this, right?" The way Midnight looked at a Erza made her tear up. "What? Are you saying you don't like harming people? You harm yourself just fine! Time to pick a station!"

Erza found herself running to the table with razor blades. She picked one up, feeling the cool metal between her fingers. She wanted nothing more to just escape to her own work, but she wasn't about to cut herself with everyone watching her.

Lucy picked the table with barbed wire. She figured she could do the least amount of harm with it, and she really didn't want to hurt anyone in the room. Well, maybe Midnight. Gray picked the daggers, leaving Natsu with the swords.

"Erza will be the first target!" Midnight shouted.

To their surprise, everyone's body moved on their own. The three lunged towards Erza, swinging their weapons. It was clear that their intent was to hurt her. That's when Erza realized the point of this game. Whoever was it had to defend herself or hisself against the others. Midnight knew she would pick the razor blades, so he made everyone else's weapon around that. It would be impossible for her to block anything with little pieces of metal.

That's when she got cut. Gray swiped right past her, a stunned look on his face. A thick gash was made in her arm, and some blood hit the floor. He fell to his knees, no longer being controlled. "I'm so sorry," he apologized.

Natsu cut across her chest. She screamed out in pain. He fell to the ground, as well. This pain didn't feel good at all. It almost made her question why cutting herself felt wonderful by any means.

"Erza!" Lucy cried out. She wiped her wire out. Luckily the redhead dodged. "I don't want to hurt you." The blonde had tears rolling down her cheeks.

Erza started running. She was a pretty fast runner, so she managed to keep her distance from Lucy. She looked behind her to see where the blonde was, only to trip over one of the tables. The blade she was holding like a life line slid across her head. That was the feeling she missed.

A soft clatter was heard. Lucy looked at had empty hands, a smile on her face. "I'm not being controlled anymore!" The barbed wire lay at her feet.

"Gray's turn!" Midnight shouted.

Everyone jumped to their feet, running at Gray all at once. The raven haired boy picked up his sword and tried to avoid them as much as possible.

"Cut yourself!" Erza shouted. "I think the point of this is for everyone to cut themselves at least once!" This was a game, after all. She figured there had to be some trick to it they didn't know about. With her having blades, everyone could easily block her. It'd be hard for her to cut anyone. And that was the point.

Since Gray wasn't being controlled, he ran right towards Erza. He grabbed the blade out of her hand. Everyone stopped moving. "So you're right," he said in amazement. "I just have to cut myself?" Erza nodded weakly. He pressed the cool blade to his skin, swiping it across. A strong stinging sensation was felt, but it was more of a numb feeling than anything.

When Lucy and Natsu's turn came, they both went to Erza's table and got a blade. Everyone ended up cutting themselves. And as a momenta for there game, Midnight gave them each a drawstring bag. He said that would be where they keep there things. A small case was at the bottom with a razor blade inside. It was rubber, so it wouldn't hurt them, but Erza still found comfort in it being there.


	8. Chapter 8: Maze Fun (12-1)

**A/N: Short chapter, I know, but I just want to have one game per chapter.**

**Please Review!**

* * *

The days seemed to drag on even more than before. Erza liked to hold the rubbed blade, pretending it could actually bring herself the relief she craved. The other three just threw their bag around, trying to entertain themselves. The items they had before the Blade Game disappeared, so they only had their rubber blades and bags.

When Midnight finally announced the next game, it seemed as if he was using an intercom. They could all hear him from their individual rooms. "Welcome all!" He spoke as if it was the first time meeting them all. "Today we're going to play an easier game. When your doors open, go ahead and step out." With a clang that echoed through the dark cells, each door was opened. "Remember to have fun!"

Erza was the first to leave her cell. She could either go left or right. She decided to go left. Running her hand along the wall, she stumbled along the dark, damp hallway. It was difficult to see, so when an intersection cut the hallway into five paths, her hand slipped off the wall. She fell onto the floor. She felt something sticky beneath her. Keeping her mind at ease, she convinced herself it was only mud. She had no other choice but to get up and blindly pick a path and hope for the best.

Natsu was more fortunate. He had one clear path. He was still in the same damp hallways as Erza, but torches lit his path. The floor was all black, but he noticed that ahead, their was a white tile. He stopped before it, not sure if it was some sort of trap. Kneeling down, he touched the white with one finger. An overwhelming pain ran through his body. He screamed and fell back.

The whole path in front of him changed to odd checked tiles. Some white tiles were close, others were far apart. He started walking, avoiding the white spaces. It really made him wonder what kind of game this was.

Lucy seemed to be having the easiest time. That is until she heard a scream. She jumped, spinning around. "Natsu?" she whispered. Looking around, all she could see was tall green hedges. The blue sky above her had gray clouds. She wasn't sure if it could rain or not. She hoped it wouldn't. She continued on, aimlessly wondering around. It seemed like time had completely stopped. There wasn't even a breeze.

A loud squealing made her stop completely. Slowly turned around, she saw a bunny standing behind her. It's neck was bleeding heavily. She didn't even have to think about helping it. Her body just moved on its own. She scooped it up, trying to figure out why it was bleeding. Lightly touching it's neck, she couldn't even find a cut anywhere. The blood didn't seem to be coming from anywhere.

"What the...?" She watched as its tan fur turned an oil black. Feathers started to form over its fur. A scream erupted from her lips. Hundreds of crows burst from the rabbit's body, flying straight towards her. She ran away as fast as she could.

She had been trying to remember which paths she took, but with crows attacking her, she quickly abandoned that. Left. Right. Left. Right. Right. Right. Straight. Left. She ran any way she could to get away. It seemed as if she lost a couple birds at every turn, until, finally, she was alone. Exhausted, she fell to her knees.

"Lucy!"

Her head snapped up. Someone was standing of her. Her vision was a little fuzzy from running so much. When she was finally able to focus on the person, she saw it was Laxus. Her mind started swirling. "How did you get here?" she asked breathlessly. Then she realized it wasn't the best thing for him to be in this hell. "No! Go home!"

"I can't do that," Laxus said in the gentle tone he only ever used with her. She noticed him pull something out of his pocket. Her eyes widened. "Why did you leave me? I loved you. If I can't even get a common whore to love me enough to stay, how could I ever have anyone? Goodbye, Luce."

/"Laxus, no!"/

She screamed as loud as she could, but the words never reached her ears. She blinked her overflowing tears away and lunged at him. The gun he had slid away. She felt gentle hands grasp her arms. They weren't the large calluses hands of Laxus. They were softer, thinner. A gasp left her lips as she opened her eyes. Gray was laying beneath her.

"Lucy!" he said in relief, sitting up and tightly hugging her to his chest. "I kept calling your name but you couldn't hear me. Who were you yelling for? Laxus?"

Lucy started crying tears of joy rather than fear. Laxus was okay. She was okay. Gray was okay. It was such a relief. "I was so scared." Despite her fear, she started shaking in his arms. She didn't think twice about tightly hugging him back.

A light rain started to fall around them. It eventually started to pour. Gray and Lucy didn't seem to react at all. They just held each other, happy to be safe in each other's arms.

From above the whole maze, Midnight chuckled to himself. He watched Natsu struggle to only step on the black squares. Erza was stumbling around blinding, hurting herself on the odd things he had laying on the paths she took. A few nails here, a wild dog there. She didn't see any of it coming. When he found Lucy and Gray to be together in the state they were, he chuckled to himself.

"The lover and the luster, huh? I didn't see that coming. I figured she would go for the Druggie. No matter. As long as they find some happiness. I wouldn't want them to think of this place as all bad."

The game continued until Natsu collapsed from exhaustion, Erza from pain, and after Gray and Lucy fell asleep. They were all returned to their separate cells with Midnight pleased with the day's game.


	9. Chapter 9: Wendy (1-17)

**Notice 1: I'm really sorry for not updating for so long! A lot was going on for me with all the holidays and what-not. Right now I actually have this nasty lung infection. Not to gross anyone out, but I cough so much at night that I make myself throw up, sometimes up to six times. It's pretty gross. I didn't go to school yesterday, and today I had off, so I was home for two days. I just got my computer last Saturday, so I will be posting more often (hopefully). I've spent the last few days downloading music and playing World of Warcraft. I hadn't been able to play it for three months, since my dad's computer is awful for gaming, so I was really excited to play again. I wouldn't say I'm bored with it, but I got it out of my system, so I won't be fully engrossed in the game.**

**Notice 2: Hello readers :) I'm posting this notice on all of my stories, so, if you already read this on a different story of mine, you can just skip this paragraph. As you have probably heard, I was going to build a computer. It is amazing for me to say that it's finished! I know have my own computer in my room that I can write with whenever I please and as late as I please, which is really convenient. Before, I had to write on my phone. My dad has a computer in the dining room, but my family doesn't know I write; I'm uncomfortable with the idea of them knowing. The point is that I can write more! I made a folder on my computer for FanFiction. I put all the chapters and notes I had on my FanFiction account and my phone into folders according to the story. Then I went through all of my messages on here to sort them. I made a list of all the requests I have gotten for stories and wrote a list of everyone who wants to help out with my novel, which I am still accepting help for. (Even having readers are helpful. Not everyone has to help edit.) I do have a plan for the future with my writing. I would like to write quite a lot of chapters in advance for all my stories, including the sequel for _Perfect for You_ which I will then write. Then I'll take some time to do all the requests I have gotten for stories. And after that long process, I can finally begin my novel. Anyways, I hope you will all be patient and supportive through this adventure of mine. I really enjoy writing for you all, so I hope you will all stick around to see everything I have planned. I love you all! *hugs***

**A/N: By the end of this chapter you will all be bathing in the GraLu spirit! **

**Next to Update:**** Love the Ice**

**Please support my other stories and review :)**

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"You guys have all been doing so well," Midnight praised, looking at the troubled looking faces of the four teenagers. They were all sitting at a table in a plain room, looking as if they hadn't slept in weeks. "I decided to give you all a treat. There's no tricks."

Four identical, bald men came into the room. They set a piece of cheesecake in front of each of them before bowing and leaving. Midnight just flashed a crooked smile before leaving.

"Is this for real?" Natsu asked, poking the cake with his fork.

"Erza obviously doesn't mind," Lucy laughed, pointing to the redhead who was almost done with her piece already.

"Huh?" Erza mumbled, looking up with her fork sticking out of her mouth. The whole table joined together in laughter. It was a nice change of pace from all the torture they've been receiving.

"I never really liked sweets," Gray easily lied, sliding his piece to Erza. She smiled wide before digging in, which made Lucy giggled. He actually did like sweets, but he wanted to see Erza enjoy it more than he. It reminded him of Wendy and her innocence. He really did miss her.

_"Gray?"_

Hearing her voice made him flinch. Was he just imagining it? There was no way that he would actually hear her voice after thinking about her. Coincidences like that just didn't happen.

_"Gray!"_

Hearing it again made him jump out of his seat. He spun around, checking the room for any signs of her.

"What's up with you?" Natsu asked, also sliding his cake over to Erza. Lucy had already finished hers.

_"Gray, this isn't funny!"_

Gray ran over to the only door in the room and began pounding on it. "Let her go, you bastard!" he screamed. "I know you have her!" He pulled hard on the handle, but it eventually disappeared under him. He fell back to the floor, but he quickly jumped back up. Natsu was right there to catch him, though.

"Hey, calm down!" Natsu yelled, trying to keep Gray still.

"No, he has her!" Gray yelled, struggling against his grip. He eventually broke free and began pounding against the door again. "I don't care what you do to me, just don't hurt her!" Natsu grabbed him again and Erza and Lucy quickly swooped in to grab his arms.

_"Gray, you gotta wake up!"_

He let out a growl, fully annoyed. Why won't they let him go? He had to help her! She was scared and needed him!

_"You weren't suppose to leave me like Mom and Dad did!"_

Gray was practically sobbing at this point. His knees turned to jello and his friends gradually set him on the ground. He clenched his fists and slammed them hard on the concrete floor. "I'm right here, Wendy," he whispered, no longer having the energy to shout. "I didn't leave you, I promise."

"Yes, you did," Midnight said, suddenly sitting cross-legged in front of Gray. The boy's head snapped up. "You left her the moment you took the first sip of alcohol ever. That's when you created an addiction and began ignoring her." He sighed. "Such a pity, too. She was such a sweet little girl, worshiping you like you were some great God worthy of praise."

"What did you do to her?!" Gray yelled angrily, jumping up to punch Midnight in the face. He found himself punching the air.

Midnight was suddenly behind him, using his foot to push him into the ground. "No, what did _you_ do to her? I did nothing at all. _You're_ the one who hurt her. Her big brother abandoned her. She's been cleaning up after your sorry ass for over a year! How is that fair to her?" He snapped his fingers. A large screen appeared on the ceiling. Everyone watched.

_"Gray?" Wendy asked, crawling up on the bed. She shook his legs slightly. "Gray, I need you to sign my planner." She shook his legs a little more. "Huh? You must really be tired." She proceeded to crawl over him. With an 'oof!', she landed beside him. She giggled and poked his cheek. He didn't move, so she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "Gray, you gotta wake up!"_

"No," Gray whispered in horror. He closed his eyes, not able to watch. "Don't make me watch."

_She pushed him hard on his chest. He didn't move. She was getting worried. Tears brimmed in the corners of her eyes. "Gray, this isn't funny!" she whined. "Wake up!"_

"Please stop this." He was sobbing uncontrollably now.

"Now how is that fair?" Midnight asked with an evil laugh. He kicked Gray's side hard. "I'm moving you all to your own rooms." He clapped his hands. The room they were in changed the wreck-room they were in before. There were four doors in the room, each labeled with their names on it.

Gray got to his feet, limping slightly as he went to his door. He slammed it closed, which made Lucy wince. She was touched by the amount of emotion he showed for his sister. It was so sad that her sister had to see him like that, though, It was really in that moment that she realized why they were all there: they were all dead. Erza cut herself, she shot herself, Gray drank too much, but they didn't know about Natsu yet.

"I'm going to check on him," Lucy announced, going over to his room. She peaked inside and saw that they were the same rooms as the cells they had before. He was sitting on his bed with his arms wrapped around his knees. "Are you okay?" she asked gently, closing the door behind her.

He shook his head slowly. She climbed up onto the bed and sat beside him, putting an arm around his shoulders. He leaned into her, finding comfort in her embrace. When was the last time he had felt close to someone? He was very calm and at peace when he was around the blonde and he couldn't really explain why.

"Gray," Lucy sighed, snuggling into his neck. She was feeling the same way Gray was. In this world of despair she's found herself in, it was nice to have him there.

Gray slowly looked down at Lucy. He saw a blush lingering on her cheeks, which he thought was adorable. There weren't many times that he's made a girl blush. He usually never payed attention to girl's faces, actually. He was usually too busy with the rest of them...

Lucy sighed out his name again, which seemed to do the trick for him. He gently grabbed her cheeks in his hands and kissed her gently on the lips. She melted against him, not thinking once that she was cheating on Laxus. This was all a dream anyways...

Right?


	10. Chapter 10: Sanity and Happiness

**A/N: I think I might update this story tomorrow again. I'm writing Chapter 12 now and I just love it. This chapter is kind of short, as is the next one, and I really want you all to read 12!**

**Next to Update: Love the Ice**

**Please review :) **

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Lucy mumbled in her sleep as she snuggled closer to the warmth beside her. She hummed in delight when she felt a muscular chest press against her bare skin. She was fast asleep, that is, until cries entered her dream. The sound wasn't familar, but she could tell that it was a man's.

"Laxus?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. The cries were still ringing in her mind. Was it him crying? She's never heard him cry before, but it sounded like it could easily be him.

Opening her eyes completely, she watched the sleeping form of Gray beside her. It may not have been the best idea for her to sleep with him, but she couldn't really think of a reason not to. Besides, she was sure that this was all a dream.

An image of Laxus laying over her dead body flashed through her mind. She sat up abruptly, gripping her head tightly. Images started flashing through her mind, some of the two of them at school, others of them haning out at their house, them kissing in the laundry room so Makarov wouldn't catch them, spending time together in his bedroom when the old man was out of the house, and the day she moved in. Laxus laying over her dead body flashed between each happy scene. It wasn't long before she was shaking and sobbing. What was this madness? She just wanted it all to stop!

"Lucy?" Gray called out sleepily. He became worried when he saw how she was shaking and crying. He sat up and easily pulled her into a hug. "Hey, Baby, what's wrong?" he asked, petting her hair.

Lucy looked up at Gray with wide eyes. "What have I done?" she whispered. She pushed him away, which led to her falling off the bed. She scrambled to find all her clothes and put them back on. She realized that even if this wasn't all real, she still chose to sleep with Gray, which was still cheating.

Midnight appeared in the room, sitting at the foot of Gray's bed. Gray and Lucy both almost jumped out of their skin in surprised. They really wished he would stop doing that. "Well what do we have here," Midnight laughed. "So the horn-dog managed to shag the virgin?"

"I-I'm not a virgrin," Lucy stuttered nervously, blushing.

Midnight put his manicured finger under her chin, lifting it up to meet his gaze. "Ah, but you are. You've been with the same man since you were fifteen. You're so innocent to love that you would jump into the arms of a man that's had more woman than you could even imagine."

Hurt flashed acrossed Lucy's face. Had he really slept around that much? It made her feel even more dirty for cheating on Laxus simply because it was with someone like that. "What are you even playing at?" she snapped, looking up at Midnight. "Why are you torturing us all like this? What do you have to gain? What are we even doing here? How did we get here?"

"You're asking a lot of questions, girl," Midnight sneered. "I'm afraid I can't answer any of your questions right now. But, I'll leave you with this." He stood up and went over to the door, gripping the handle. "Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. Stop wasting your time on people who don't love you. If you're with someone simply to stay sane, is it worth risking such happiness? And if your happy with someone, isn't that the exact definition of sanity? One of the definitions of sanity is the ability to tell the real from the unreal. So let me ask you this: is this all real or a false reality that your minds have created? And if this is all a false reality, are you happy here? Is it keeping you sane, or is it keeping you happy?" He left the room, gently shutting the door behind him.

X

"I really want to know what that guy is playing us for," Natsu mumbled. He was curled up on the couch, Lucy at the other end. Erza and Gray were playing ping-pong. It seemed that every so often the game would change. Just an hour before it was an air-hockey table.

"Doesn't it sort of seem like he's trying to help us, though?" Lucy asked shyly. Ever since her talk with Midnight that morning, she had really been questioning if he was a bad guy or not. "I mean, has he actually hurt us? Emotionally, sure, but not physically. All those harmful games he had us play didn't actually hurt. It was more like our bodies thinking it would hurt and us being afraid."

Natsu shivered. "I don't know, but I had a dream last night. It was really terrifying."

Lucy slid over closer to him. She put a hand on his knee. "Do you need to talk about it?" She hated that pained look in his eyes. After being together for so long they all began to truly care for each other.

He sighed. "My parents left me when I was younger. An old friend of my dad's kind of showed up at my doorstep promising to look out for me. He payed for my apartment and tried his best. All I ever did for him was cause trouble." It looked like he was about to cry. "I would go partying all the time and bring home pills, weed, or whatever I could get my hands on. He always searched my apartment and took away whatever he found and yelled at me for it. I always yelled at him, saying he shouldn't waste his time on trash like me." He chuckled a little. "The damn bastard. He would always hit me hard on the head then hug me, saying he would never give up on me."

Lucy smiled. "He sounds like a nice guy." She noticed how Natsu was leaning onto her. She started running her fingers through his hair. "What about your dream?"

He tensed up for a moment before relaxing. "I had a dream that he came to my apartment and...found me dead." He took a deep, shaking breath. "Gildarts was so scared."

Lucy gasped and coughed on an invisble substance. "G-Gildarts?" she stuttered.

"Yeah?" Natsu asked, an eyebrow raised. "You know him?"

"Do you mean Gildarts Clive, as in the teacher at Fairy Tail? Cana Alberona's father?" she asked.

"Whoa, Cana?" Gray asked, turning to face Lucy and Natsu. He ended up getting hit in the head with a ping-pong ball, but he didn't even notice. "You know Cana?"

"She goes to Fairy Tail a grade above me. We've been friends for years," Lucy explained. "How do you know her?"

"Oh, me?" Gray asked nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, you know, friends." Natsu raised an eyebrow at this. He recieved a glare in return. "My cousin met her one time and made me stop being around her for a while since she was a bad influence for Wendy."

"Oh, who's your cousin?" Lucy asked. "Maybe I know him."

"You probably don't," Gray said, shaking his head. "He goes to Mermaid Heal."

Erza perked up at this. "I definitely know him, then."

"Jellal Fernandes?" Gray asked. "Ring a bell?"

Erza was shocked. She dropped her padel and fell back into the wall. She began breathing heavily. Gray quickly helped her to her feet and had her sit on a chair. "Jellal...impossible," she muttered.

/Jellal knocked on the door to Erza's house. The door opened, revealing Erza's mother. "Oh, Jellal! What a lovely surprise! Please come in," the woman said, stepping aside. He thanked her and went inside.

"Is Erza home?" Jellal asked. "She left her bag at school. I was dropping it off for her."

Erza's father came into the room at the sound of Jellal's voice. "Here to see Erza, eh?" he asked in a teasing voice, poking the young man in the ribs. "I haven't heard anything about it, so I'm guessing you haven't manage to snatch her up yet? Come on, we both know that she can't be in the market for much longer. She isn't exactly a troll, if you know what I mean."

"No, sir, we're just friends," Jellal laughed. He held up Erza's schoolbag. "So is she in her room?"

Erza's father let out a hearty laugh. He patted Jellal's shoulder. "I can see the look in your eyes. I know you would tap that in a heartbeat."

"Nathan!" Erza's mother gasped.

"Right, right. Sorry," Nathan chuckled. "Anyways, she's up in her room. You can go on up."

Jellal nodded and went upstairs. He didn't bother knocking on Erza's door, since he's been in there so often. When he swung the door open, the schoolbag in his hands dropped to the floor. His eyes were wide with horror. The room before him was a total mess. Pieces of clothing were everywhere, patches of blood here and there, and Erza collapsed on the floor. He ran over and lifted her into his arms, not caring that she wasn't wearing a shirt at the moment. He looked at the fresh wounds and scars on her skin. Her body was cold and lifeless. Without warning, dozens of tears dropped from his eyes and onto her cheek. They rolled down her chin, dripping onto her chest, disappearing into her cleavage. His mouth was wide with a silent scream.

"I'm so sorry," he finally spoke in a broken tone. His forehead dropped to hers. "Please don't leave me." His shoulders started to shake. "No, come back. I love you so much. I can't lose you."/

She had that dream just the night before. There was no way. It seemed as if they all have someone special to them that they are suddenly remembering.

What /was/ Midnight playing at?


	11. Chapter 11: You've Passed

**A/N: This chapter is very short, but I want you to know that after this chapter they will all be much, much, much longer. **

**I would like to give a huge thank you to my new Beta, Xx21KatieKat12xX. She has been a huge help with this story, and I'm very happy to have her :) **

**Please Review!**

* * *

The four sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. It was so strange to discover that they had all been so close for so long, yet they had never met in real life. And now they're fates were almost intertwined. They were all stuck in this twisted game where they didn't know if they will escape. And, by the way that they saw how their loved ones dealt with their deaths, they could only imagine that they would never escape.

Midnight walked into the room through a wall. No one really payed attention to his entrance, though. They were all lost in their own minds. "Oh? What's this?"

Natsu glared at Midnight. "Go ahead and just do whatever you want to us, whatever sick game it is." He knew that he couldn't hurt them more than they already had been.

Midnight smirked. "I have but one more game for you all," he said. "I need you to all go back to your rooms for this."

They all moved at the same time. As they entered their rooms, their doors disappeared, leaving them in the lonely room with no exit.

Erza walked over to her bed. There was a single razor on her pillow. She picked it up and felt the cool metal between her fingers. It wasn't that long ago that she would have loved to rip that through her skin. What had changed all that? Did this false reality really do that to her?

No. There was no way this was a false reality. Gray knew Jellal. Gray and Lucy both knew Cana. Lucy and Natsu both knew Gildarts. They had all connections in real life.

What was stopping her? Was it the way that Jellal cried, screaming that he loved her? Or was it the way that she was forced to cut her new friends? For whatever reason, she set the blade on the small table in her room and sat on her bed, content with her choice.

Natsu had a very similar decision. There were about fifty pills laying on his bed. He didn't have to think twice before swiping them all to the floor. He never wanted to look at another drug in his life.

Gray found a bottle of liquor on his bed. An image of a crying Wendy flashed through his mind. He angrily grabbed the bottle and threw it against the wall. It shattered into a million pieces, alcohol going everywhere. He fell to his knees, his face in his hands. "You're more important than any woman or bottle, Wendy." A tear slipped from his eye. "I'm sorry I ever forgot that."

Lucy had a gun sitting on her bed. She picked it up and pulled the hammer back. "Come here, Midnight!" she screamed. "Do you really think that I would shoot myself a second time? How about I shoot you!"

An eery laugh echoed in all their rooms.

"Congratulations, you have all passed."


	12. Chapter 12: Waking Up

**A/N: Okay, this is where the story really picks up. This story has to be one of my favorites right now simply because of where it's headed. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I am :)**

**Thanks again to my amazing Beta :)**

**Please leave a pretty review and let me know how you like the change in the story!**

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Gray let out a deep groan from the back of his throat. His mouth felt as dry as a desert and it was a struggle to open his eyelids. When he finally did, a blinding white light filled his vision. He could faintly hear beeping sounds and the muffled sound of talking from somewhere not too far from him. His vision cleared up after a few minutes and he could finally see where he was: a hospital.

His fingers loosely gripped the sheets laying at his waist, not fully able to grip the cloth. A heart-rate monitor was beside his bed, a steady green line going up and down. He had an IV for blood connected to his arm and one with odd clear fluid connected to his stomach, which he could feel slightly when he shifted on the uncomfortable bed. There were two chairs to the one side of his bed, and by the way they were crooked, it was clear he has had some visitors.

Laying beside his knee, he saw that there was a small remote with a red button on the end. He tried to reach for it, but his arms were just not long enough. With a single burst, he sat up enough to grab it, but pain shot through his side. He took deep, slow breaths until the pain subsided. Looking back to the remote, he saw that a sticker above the button read CALL NURSE. He figured it would be best to let someone know he was awake, so, with a shaky finger, he pressed the button.

Moments later, a door opened. A nurse came inside, a bright smile on her features. "You're awake! That's great to see, Mr. Fullbuster," she said. He swiftly corrected her, saying just to call him by his first name. He didn't want to sound like an old man. "Alright, Gray," was her response. She went over to his two IVs to check the flow of the liquids, then she went to his heart-rate monitor and started writing down some numbers. "How are you feeling? Any pain?"

Gray closed his eyes. The IVs were very itchy and his side was hurting quite a lot. With yet again shaking fingers, he moved his blanket off of himself to see exactly why he was hurting so much. His eyes widened when he saw a large amount of bandages wrapped around his torso and hips. The IV that he assumed went to his stomach was actually in his upper thigh. His face turned scarlet when he realized that he was stark naked, which made him reach for the blanket again. He ended up knocking the IV out, causing him to gasp in pain.

"Do be careful," the nurse urged him, running back to the other side of the bed. She began putting the IV back in, which just embarrassed the boy more. "I'll have you know that I am a trained professional and there is no need to be ashamed, although I understand why you would be uncomfortable." She moved his blanket back to cover himself. "Would you be more comfortable with a male nurse? I have been assigned to you thus far, but it is reasonable for you to switch." She went back over to the monitor.

Gray was quite shocked at her bluntness. "I...it's fine," he stuttered. He looked up at her, taking in her features. She must have been fresh out of medical school because she looked about twenty. She had brown hair that just tickled her shoulders and bangs that shot straight across her forehead in a slightly uneven line. She had a small frame and a small chest, but it was clear that her butt made up for that. His head snapped back to his lap, realizing that he really shouldn't be checking-out the nurse. Instead, he rubbed his thumb along the bandages around his body.

The nurse looked over her shoulder, noticing where his attention was at the moment, although she knew where it had been. When he fully recovered she surely knew she would be seeking him out. She was aware he had a drinking problem, but who doesn't have baggage? "You had to undergo surgery to your liver," she explained. His eyes widened slightly. "The first IV is simply to put blood back into your system, which is standard after a surgery. I believe today is your last day on that, actually." She briefly checked her clipboard. "Yes, it is. The second IV is to clean out your bloodstream. You've been poisoned for a while, actually, from alcohol, but your last little stunt just tipped it over the top." She took a seat in one of the empty chairs, grabbing his one hand, which made him look up at her in surprise. "You never did answer me. How are you feeling?"

He swallowed thickly. How was he feeling? _How was he feeling? _He was in a hospital! He just about drowned himself in alcohol! What about how he made Wendy feel? If the image Midnight showed him was correct, she was very upset over him. He visibly flinched. What happened to Erza, Natsu, and Lucy? Were they at the same hospital? Were they even alive? The last game Midnight played was some sort of test. They were clearly set free when they passed, but how far did that freedom go? The one thing he knew for sure, though, was that he needed to find them. He had to make sure that they were all okay. He had grown so attached to them over the time they spent together, a time length he didn't quite now. Was it days? Weeks? Months? _Years?_

His mind made up, Gray moved his blanket aside, surprising the nurse, who, after a quick check at her nametag, went by Amber. He didn't care about that, though. He just needed to get out of the suffocating room. He ripped the IVs from himself, which made Amber cry out and jump up, trying to push him back to his bed. Blood and that strange clear liquid dripped onto his bed, but he didn't plan on returning to it, so he didn't care about the mess. He easily pushed her back and fully stood up. Blood rushed to his head and he was suddenly very dizzy, but he still stumbled forward, completely forgetting that he was naked or realizing that he wouldn't get very far beyond the room. That didn't stop him, though. He had to try.

Amber had made another attempt to grab him, but he thrashed against her and ended up knocking them both to the ground. He quickly got up and went forward again. He was steps from the door when it opened. His face turned scarlet when he saw Cana standing there. She was wearing insanely tight black leggings and her a blue bikini top, a variation of the same outfit she's worn for over a year.

"Gray!" she gasped. She looked behind him and saw the nurse just standing up. She also noticed how he was completely naked. "I don't know what the hell you think you're doing, but you're going to get back in bed." She pushed his shoulders and he was too stunned to stop her.

"Thank you," Amber sighed in relief.

Cana set him in a chair instead of the bed, since the bed was ruined. Amber quickly stopped the IVs and tore away the bed sheets. She told Cana about the spare sets in the farthest cabinet at the side of the room before taking the dirty sheets out of the room.

"Cana," Gray sighed happily, watching her put new sheets on his bed. He never thought he would see her again. He had always slept around with girls, Cana being the only constant in his life. She had mentioned before that she would totally date him, but he clearly wasn't right in the head. He would just laugh that off, usually drunk when she said it. She had mentioned before how much she loved to drink but was too scared to do it in front of him. At the time he thought she was being a bitch and definitely told her that, but only now he realized that she was just looking out for him.

"Alright, now let's get you in bed," Cana said, smiling at him. She was incredibly happy to see him awake and well. Lifting him to his feet, she noticed how he had to lean most of his weight onto her. She already assumed he was in rough shape because of all he went through, so she wasn't surprised.

"Cana," he said again, putting his arms around her waist and his chin on her shoulder. She let out a sigh that resembled a pout and put her arms around his neck. "I love you," he said, surprising them both.

"Gray," she said, looking at his face with concern. "You don't mean that." She wanted it to be true so badly, though. "Just because you almost died doesn't mean you have to do this."

"Yes, I do." He closed his eyes, trying to keep his thoughts straight. All the twisted, sick games Midnight forced him to play game whirling back to him in broken images. He pushed those all away. "The past...well, I'm not sure how long, has been hell without you. At first it was all about figuring out where I was, but after we all realized we weren't about to figure that out, we just accepted it all. Every time something horrible happened to me, I just kept hoping that you and Wendy were alright. Seeing you again-"

"Wait," Cana said, putting a finger over his lips. "What are you saying? Where were you at? When did horrible things happen to you?"

Gray realized that he probably shouldn't tell her about his Hell inside his mind. He obviously never went anywhere, so his brain probably just made it all up while he was in a coma. It totally slipped his mind that Erza, Natsu, and Lucy also knew people he knew. "Can't you just say that you love me, too? You're really killing the moment," he laughed.

Cana laughed, too. "I think the moment will remain dead until you put some pants on. Usually love confessions are done with clothing on." She was happy to see a smile on his face. Watching him sleep for two weeks straight was horrible. His face was so comatose and blank.

He was about to say something cocky back, but he felt as if he was just punched in the gut. He made a gasping sound, falling completely on Cana. She quickly adjusted, moving him so he was laying on his back. He had his eyes closed, trying to catch his breath. "What hurts?" she asked, putting a hand on his forehead. He didn't have a fever, which was good, because while he was sleeping he would get them often.

Gray let out a strangled moan. "Damn, that hurts," he said, putting a hand on his lower stomach.

"What? What hurts?" Cana was really freaking out. "Should I get the nurse again?" She could only assume that Amber had another patient with an emergency problem or else she would have come back.

"No, I just really gotta piss." He opened his eyes and cracked a wide grin.

"You're such an asshole!" Cana yelled, slapping his shoulder. He just started laughing, which made her laugh. "I really missed you," she said sadly, grabbing his hand. He squeezed hers lightly and pulled her down next to him so he could kiss her, a feeling he really missed.


	13. Chapter 13: To Live or Die?

**A/N: THIS IS STILL A GRALU. Come on guys, you know me! I have to add some drama in there somewhere. This story doesn't have much love drama in it, so I have to spice it up. It will still be GraLu. Don't worry. **

**This story will be uploaded every Sunday until further notice. **

**Please Review!**

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Gray woke up with a smile on his face, seeing that Cana was fast asleep curled up at his side. He arched his neck to see out the window above his head, seeing the sun was going to set in about an hour. Did that mean that Wendy would just be getting home from school? Was it even a weekday? When he had woken up earlier, he had no idea what time it was or what date it was. Time seemed to stop inside of hospitals.

There were three quick knocks on the door. He looked up as Amber walked inside. "You finally woke up," she said, a smile once again on her face. She noticed Cana laying on the bed. "She's came in many times, but I didn't realize that she was your girlfriend." That meant Gray was officially off the market, sadly. She went over to his heart-rate monitor to check his vitals like she had when he first woke up. "Earlier in the day the doctors put you to sleep. They didn't want your body to become too stressed after you tried to escape earlier. The girl, Cana was her name? She refused to leave, and I guess she fell asleep, too."

"Could I have some water?" Gray asked, noticing how dry his mouth was. His throat was feeling a little tight, too. Amber handed him a styrofoam cup with a lid and straw. He easily drank it all in a couple seconds. She laughed and gave him another one, which he took his time to drink.

"We took away your blood IV, but you still need the one in your thigh. We moved that one to your wrist, though. Your bandages are going to be replaced soon. After your side heals up we can give you a gown to wear, but until then you can't wear anything. I may be able to get you scrub pants since you no longer have an IV in your thigh, but that isn't very likely."

Gray set his cup down and looked at his bandaged torso. There was a large red patch right where his liver is. "What did you guys have to do to my liver?" She didn't actually tell him yet.

Amber jumped in surprise, dropping her clipboard. She quickly picked it up and laughed nervously. "You received a transplant. Your liver was completely useless. A donor gave up half of his, so you also have half a liver now. You'll daily life will not be affected, although you'll have to watch drinking quite a bit, since you won't have a full liver to filter the alcohol properly."

Gray's eyebrow twitched. "Who gave me the liver?" He couldn't even think of who would. Wendy was too young for that, and no one else really cared about him enough to do that.

"I'm sorry, but the donor wished to remain-"

"Bullshit!" Gray snapped. Cana stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes. She sat up, wondering what the noise was from. She was surprised to see a red-faced Gray who didn't seem to notice her. "Who the fuck was it?"

Amber's eyes shot to the monitor to see the green line spiking. "Please calm down," she urged him. "I'm not allowed to tell you who. If he wishes for you to know he will tell you himself."

Gray's eyes narrowed. Him? There was no way that his father would do it. "I'll rip it out myself unless I know whose it was! Don't I deserve to know if someone else's body part is inside me? I won't calm down until I know!"

"Gray," Cana said, gently pushing his chest back to the bed. He didn't know he sat up. He looked over to Cana, seeing her gentle smile. "We'll address that when we need to, okay? Right now we just need you to get better." He nodded, his breathing starting to go back to normal.

"Knock knock," came a new voice, making everyone in the room look to the door. Jellal was standing there, his hands on Wendy's shoulders. "Gray!" she squealed, running over to him. Cana got off the bed and sat in a chair. The young girl quickly jumped onto the bed, her knees accidently jamming into Gray's side. It hurt but he didn't show it.

"You're a lot bigger than I remember," Gray said through the pain, ruffling her hair. She let out a giggle. "I'm really sorry that I scared you like I did. You did a good job." Everyone in the room was confused, since he shouldn't know that Wendy was the one to check his pulse and call the hospital, but they didn't bother asking.

"I've been staying with Jellal," Wendy said, smiling wide at her brother. "He's been driving me to school and picking me up so I don't have to walk. And he makes me really yummy breakfast in the morning. Oh, and did you know that he was really smart? Even though he never went to Sabertooth he still knows all about what I'm learning! After we do our homework and he makes us dinner, he always drives me over here to see you. Today's the first day that you're awake, though. But Jellal's been telling me how great you've been doing! He knows all about the medical stuff, so he tells me what all the doctors and nurses mean. He doesn't always sit with you, though. He says that he has someone else to visit, but that's okay, right?"

Gray nodded, completely speechless. He knew that Jellal lived by himself, but it was still natural for Wendy to stay with him while he was at the hospital. Just hearing about all things Jellal has been doing made his heart clench. It just made him realize how much he's failed as a brother.

Wendy went on telling Gray about the school project she had to make and how Jellal knew just what to do. She had gotten 100% on it, which was happening lately, so that didn't surprise her. He knew that when she lived with him she had never once gotten an A on anything. Maybe if he had helped her on her homework more...maybe if he had just been there for her more...

"I'm kind of getting tired," he said in a small voice. Wendy was in the middle of a sentence, but she just stopped talking and smiled. She asked Jellal if they could come back the next day after school. Jellal didn't say anything to Gray before they both left, but he did give Gray an odd look.

"Are you okay?" Cana asked, sitting back on his bed. They were both alone in the room, since Amber had left when Jellal and Wendy showed up. "Are you actually tired?"

"Yeah, can you leave?" Gray asked, his voice still sounding sad and weak.

Cana was surprised that he asked her to leave, but she told him she would just go down to the cafeteria and eat dinner. When she closed the door behind her, Gray felt tears slip out of his eyes. He brought a hand up to his mouth, trying to muffle his sobs. He had never felt so incredibly useless in his life. He was horrible to Cana, horrible to Wendy, he played Lucy, and now he wasn't even able to wear pants! Even if Lucy wasn't a real person, he still did something awful to her. Never once in his life did he drink with the intention of killing himself, but at that moment he wished he would have tried harder at that when he had the chance. The guilt bubbling up in his chest was overwhelming.

Could he kill himself, right there in the hospital, and still make it look like an accident? He could always claw at his side until it ripped itself completely open. He would probably lose enough blood. The IV adjuster was right in reach, so he could always turn it up extra. Too much cleaner in his blood would surely do the trick. He could always wrap the cord from the heart-rate monitor around his neck and fall off the bed, making it look like he did that in his sleep. He had already announced that he was tired, after all.

He jolted hard, realizing what he had been thinking. Did he really want to cause everyone so much mental anguish? He had obviously caused them all enough already. He really needed to get out of that room before he drove himself insane. Rather than chasing after fake people he was saving his own life. That was a worthy excuse, right?

He scanned the room once more and saw that there was a wheelchair in the corner. He could only assume that it was there for when he gets better. He hopped out of bed and went over to the cupboards on the other side of the room. He looked through them and found a pair of pants. He couldn't believe his luck, but he was just going with it. Pants on and sitting in the wheelchair, he opened his door. Surprisingly, dozens of nurses didn't crowd around him. The only people in the hallway were two people talking at the receptionists desk way at the other end. He decided to go the other way.

He slowly went down the hall, since his arms were kind of weak for laying in a bed for two weeks. He heard someone shriek "Gray!" behind him. He briefly looked behind him and saw that Cana was running towards him. He started wheeling faster, not wanting to go back to his room.

He passed one room with the door open. He heard voices inside, which for some reason made him stop. Looking in, he saw two guys sitting beside a hospital bed. The one looked pretty young and had blonde hair while the other was older with caramel hair. They had a book opened and were looking at it, the younger taking notes. He looked in at the person laying on the bed. His eyes widened and he started going inside without even thinking about it.

The two men talking stopped and stared at Gray. Gray was staring with wide eyes at whom he had learned to be Lucy. Her beautiful blonde hair was tied to the side in a weird sort of bun. There were many bandages wrapped around her head. She had a breathing mask over her mouth, tubes in her nose, all sorts of IVs and monitors attached to her skin, and a cast around her neck. He couldn't even imagine what could have happened to her. If Lucy was really there, though, that meant that Erza and Natsu were real people, as well, and there was a good chance they were in the same hospital. They had already established that they went to neighboring schools, afterall.

"Can we help you?" the blonde asked, his voice cracking. Gray looked up at him, noticing his eyes were bloodshot. He obviously had been doing more crying than sleeping.

"Gray!" they all heard. Cana came running into the room, panting from running. She hit the raven haired boy on the head. "You can't just leave your room like...that." She looked over and saw whose room they were standing in. "Laxus, Dad!" she gasped.

The blonde, who Gray guessed was Laxus, looked surprised. "Oh, you're Cana's boyfriend," he said as if he should have known. "That's cool to see that you're awake and everything." He looked over to Lucy with sad eyes.

That's when it hit Gray. That was _Laxus _in front of him. He was too amazed to hear Gildarts scolding Cana about having a boyfriend and not telling him, the fact that Cana called him her boyfriend, the fact that Cana's father was right there, or that he was the man Natsu had talked about. He was too busy being drawn back into the horrible nightmares.

Laxus was the man that Lucy was calling for that day in the maze. She had obviously seen some illusion that terrified her, maybe him being killed. He had guessed at the time that maybe he was her boyfriend. That guess was only confirmed when he had slept with Lucy and she cried the next morning about cheating on Laxus. Now, standing in front of him, Gray realized that was a big mistake. The guy was huge! He could probably snap him like a twig!

Gray went closer to Lucy, making all the arguing stop. They just watched him, wondering what he was doing. He reached forward and brushed his fingertips against Lucy's cheek. He could only assume that she was still in that twisted world. He wanted to let her know that there was hope and she would eventually come home. He sighed and put his forehead against her chest. Laxus stood up to hit the kid, since that was his girlfriend he was touching, but Gildarts held his hand out. They were all curious to see what Gray would do, after all.

"Lucy," Gray whispered. He didn't know if the others could hear him, but he really didn't care. "Lucy, listen to me." It seemed like it would have been impossible to reach her, but he was going to try. "It's all just a dream. You're going to come back to us as good as new. You can through this." He looked up at her face with tears running down his own. He wanted nothing more than to reach her. If he could reach Lucy, maybe she could tell the others, if they were still there, as well. He smiled faintly, lifting her hand. He linked there pinkies together. "It's our promise, right?"

"Gray," Cana said, putting a hand on his shoulder. She wasn't sure if he was going crazy or not, but he had to have been. She knew that Gray and Lucy had never met, so there was no way they could have promised something. Aside from that, he was talking about some dream and getting through it. She felt as if there was something he wasn't telling her, but she could make him say it later. "You need to get back to your room. I'm sure people are searching for you now."

Gray found himself not minding going back. He knew that he needed to get better for Lucy, because he wanted to be right there when she woke up. He also needed to get better so he could search for Natsu and Erza. That was the only thing that mattered to him. He didn't want his life to be meaningless anymore. He wanted to help his new friends because they helped him, even though he didn't know quite how much yet.


	14. Chapter 14: Another Surgery

**A/N: So here's another chapter for you guys! I am working on getting on all my other stories caught up, but I figured that's not reason to let this one fall behind when I have a bunch of chapters. **

**Please Review!**

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"Lucy, we have to move," Erza said, kneeling down beside the blonde.

"It...it hurts," Lucy cried, gripping her leg.

"I know," Erza said, motioning to her bleeding shoulder. "We have to go, though. If we don't find Natsu and explain what's happening, he may just kill us both."

Lucy nodded weakly and tried to stand up. Her knee had been shot, so she couldn't stand right. Erza had to help support her while she walked. They began walking, holding their guns tightly with their free hands. A monster appeared in front of them, but Erza quickly shot it. "There's a shimmer over their eyes if it's one of us, so you can shoot the dull-looking ones," she explained.

They wandered aimlessly through the forest, trying to find Natsu. Midnight was really playing a twisted game this time. They were all dropped off with guns in the woods in honor of how Lucy shot herself. These monsters attacked them, but some of them were actually each other. The game would end when they all made it to the lake at the center of the forest and jumped in. Erza shot herself in the shoulder within moments of the game starting by shooting two monsters. She realized the trick right away, which made it obvious that Natsu was shot since she was only shot once. Lucy was positive she got him three times. She's shot three monsters and they've all had shimmering eyes.

Lucy stopped walking when she heard someone whisper her name. "Gray?" she asked aloud, whirling around.

"Lucy, Gray disappeared, remember?" Erza asked. The day before he wasn't there when they were all allowed in their lounge room. When they asked Midnight, he said that he didn't know who they were talking about.

"No, I just heard him," Lucy said, letting go of Erza. She hobbled over to the nearest tree and sat down.

_"Lucy, listen to me."_

She knew that she heard it that time. The voice was louder and an odd warmth was filling her chest. She closed her eyes and listened.

_"It's all just a dream. You're going to come back to us as good as new. You can get through this."_

She gasped as her eyes flew open. Is he alive? Did he go back to the "real world?"

_"It's our promise, right?"_

After they spent that night together, she asked him if they would ever make it out of Midnight's clutches alive. He said he would find a way. They promised each other they would try their hardest to get each other out no matter what the cost.

"Lucy, we have to go," Erza said. She yanked the blonde off the ground. A large amount of monsters were walking towards them, and they both knew they couldn't fight all of them.

X

"Are you awake?" Cana asked, stepping into Gray's room. She saw that he was sleeping and smiled. It's been three days since he first woke up. The doctors have been happy that he hadn't went on any more adventures. He had promised not to run off on his own, as long as he could be escorted when he wanted to go. They said that if he rested for a few more days they would let him leave his room for a little bit; they wanted his side to be all healed up first.

Cana sat down beside Gray's bed. She couldn't stop thinking about everything. It was so weird that Lucy tried to kill herself the same day that Gray almost died from drinking too much alcohol. Then he ended up knowing her, which was really strange. She wondered if they really did know each other without her knowledge. She didn't exactly keep tabs on the two of them, so it was possible. It was totally a coincidence that Laxus and Lucy had a fight when Gray drank too much alcohol, considering the doctors said that his liver was bound to give out eventually. That didn't keep her from being curious about it all, though.

What was really weird, though, was that Lucy was apparently starting to breathe better after Gray saw her. Not to mention that the doctors said that she was getting blood clots in her knee. It was like she got better and worse all at once. That's why she wasn't sure if she should bring him back or not. If he helped then she should, but if he didn't she shouldn't. After thinking about it so much, she decided that she was just overthinking things. Gray being there had nothing to do with anything.

Gray let out a moan in his sleep. She smiled at him. She was really happy that he said he loved her, but she wasn't sure how much he meant it. Did he really have to almost die to realize that? She wished that he could have just figured that out on his own. It was nice that he hasn't mentioned wanting to drink anything yet, so he probably wasn't going to have much trouble fighting the addiction. That was what she hoped, at least.

Gray made a couple more cute noises in his sleep. Sometimes when she slept at his apartment he would fall asleep before her and she got to hear him snore in his sleep. She usually found it annoying when people snored, but with him she liked it. He was never loud and obnoxious and keeping her awake; she would only hear it if she listened for it.

What she wasn't used to hearing, though, was gurgling noises. She raised an eyebrow, wondering what was happening. She watched until she saw a drop of blood come out of the corner of his mouth. Her eyes widened and she jumped up to press the button for the nurses to come. She quickly laid him on his good side, grabbing the small container for vomit to catch the blood that came out of his mouth. She noticed how there were some black clots in there, which really made her concerned.

What was really sad, though, was that Cana came right after school, since she was only able to skip once a week. Wendy doesn't get off of school much after her, so she came skipping into the room just in time to see her brother drowning in blood. "Gray!" she cried, running over.

"Wendy, stay back!" Cana yelled, trying to stay calm. She tapped his back, hoping he would cough all the blood up. He woke up at some point during the whole thing and saw all the blood, which made him vomit. He hadn't actually eaten any food yet, having been fed by a tube, so he was just vomiting blood.

Amber finally came in the room. She gasped when she saw what was happening. "I need some help in here!" she screamed into the hallway. Two other nurses and a doctor came in behind her. They started speaking in medical terms, which Cana didn't understand. Since she didn't have to be a hero anymore, tears started falling from her eyes. She wasn't sure what was wrong with him and she was afraid he would die.

"Get him into surgery," the doctor said. He started going on about what was happening. Cana could tell that something inside of Gray was bleeding and his heart wasn't beating correctly. From what she could tell the problem wasn't his liver, but she truly didn't understand everything they were saying, so she wasn't too sure.

Cana realized that Wendy was over at the other side of the room, watching as her brother was being wheeled out of the room, more nurses and doctors surrounding him. She quickly went over to the girl, hoping to be of some help. The little bluenette just stared at her in horror. Looking down, she realized that she had blood all over her torso. "Shit," she cursed. Amber handed her a towel, which gratefully accepted.

"Why don't you two go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat? It could be a few hours before they fix him," Amber said, smiling kindly at Wendy.

"No way!" Cana said stubbornly. She plopped down onto the ground, arms and legs crossed. "I'm not going anywhere."

Wendy nodded and put on a determined face, sitting as Cana was. "Me, too! If...if that's okay." She wasn't as assertive as Cana was, but she tried.

Amber sighed. "I understand that you feel that way, but you really can't-"

"Don't you have a dumbass to go save?!" Cana blurted out.

Amber turned scarlet and scurried out of the room, realizing she was about to be left behind.

Wendy and Cana burst out laughing, which felt good after all the commotion that just happened. They would just have to wait and hope for the best.

X

"I can't believe he actually hurt us," Natsu said, hitting the puck across the air hockey table. "He hasn't done that to us yet. I'm glad the pain ended after the game but damn."

"I just wish that you would all believe me," Lucy said from the couch. She had her arms crossed and her lips pursed. "I definitely heard Gray talking to me. He's at a hospital right now. This really is all just a game."

"Lucy, we've been over this," Erza said, hitting the puck into the goal below Natsu. He groaned and put the red plastic circle back on the table before continuing. She scored again. "Gray just disappeared. There's no way that Midnight would let him talk to you like that if he wanted us to forget about him."

"Or he just wanted to screw with you guys," Midnight said, suddenly sitting beside Lucy on the couch. Everyone gasped, surprised to see him there so suddenly. "I wanted to tell you all that Gray might die."

"Wh..what?" Lucy stuttered. "There's no way! He was fine a couple hours ago!"

"Honey, it's been three days since he spoke to you," Midnight said, chuckling. "He's in surgery right now. He's losing a lot of blood and they can't really keep up with him. They don't have enough blood for him. He has 0-. Of course, I could always change any blood into another type, but I'm not there with him."

Lucy jumped off the couch. She held her hand out. Surprising everyone, she was holding a knife. "Take mine! Get to him!" She stabbed her leg, standing firm. She was standing in a basin, which caught all the blood. She then started slitting her wrists. Erza watched that in wonder.

Midnight laughed deeply, grabbing his stomach. "See! This just shows you all how much power you have! You can all control this world as you please. You just didn't know you had the power. Actually, you've been running the show all along."

In a flash, he and all the blood was gone, Lucy's wounds completely healed.

X

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Cana asked, hugging her knees tighter.

"I'm sure he'll make it," Laxus said, smiling at his friend. "I mean, who would want to die when they have a babe like you waiting for them?"

Cana smiled faintly. She had Jellal take Wendy to eat dinner while she went to sit with Laxus in Lucy's room. "Is that what you keep telling yourself?" She saw him flinch, but he didn't say anything.

The only sound in the room was the heart-rate monitor and the constant, slow dripping of Lucy's IV. They both heard it and thought they were just nervous. The dripping was getting faster. Their hearts were racing, so they were just hearing that, right? Actually, the IV was going faster. Midnight stood beside it, working the control. He already put all the bags of 0- blood by the doctors to use, so now all he needed to do was keep Lucy alive. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know her body was connected to her dream-state, so he wasn't going to let her die because of it.


	15. Chapter 15: Blood

**I had so much fun writing this chapter! This chapter on is going to have a lot of feels and be a total rush! They're amazing, in my opinion. So thanks to my Beta for helping me out with all this! **

**There's a poll on my profile, so I'd appreciate if you all checked that out. On August 13th (the anniversary of me being on FanFiction) I'm going to be posting a new story, so the poll will be closed the 12th. You guys can pick two stories that'd you like to see out of the five options. The one is winning by far, but my person favorite is coming up close behind, so go vote for that one ;) ****The one about Lucy and Juvia being a princess is in first. My favorite, the LaLu about Lucy being a little kid, is in second. The others are way far behind, so I won't bother listing them. My other favorite is the one about Gray being in love with Layla and then going into a coma, waking up to fall in love with Lucy. Don't let my opinions change yours, of course! **

**Please Review!**

* * *

Jellal took a seat beside Erza's hospital bed. He decided to skip school to stay at the hospital all day. Gray's surgery was successful, but they didn't know if he would live. Erza hasn't woken up yet, either. She's been recovering pretty well, but sometimes her cuts would bleed. The other day the one's on her upper arm ripped open in her sleep and she had to get an IV because of it.

Tears reached his eyes, but he refused to cry. All he's done while visiting her was cry, and he didn't want to do that. He wanted Erza to see how happy he was that she was alive. If she could see him, he didn't want to look sad. He really wasn't sure how the whole "coma" thing worked, so he wasn't sure if she could hear him when he spoke, either. That didn't stop him from talking.

"Erza," he said with a shaky breath. He reached for her hand, but he stopped short. He could remember the day she almost died. He had reached out for her and she pushed him away. She didn't want to be touched. Sure, it was because she didn't want him to see her scars, but what if it was something more? He decided to grab her hand anyway and hold it to his lips. "You need to wake up. I promise you that I'll spend my whole life teaching you to love yourself as much as I love you. I need you to wake up so I can understand you." He set her hand down and pulled the sleeve of his arm up to his elbow. There was one single line. He held his wrist up to her. "Do you see? I tried it, too. This is my promise that I'll help you forever and we'll get through this. Together."

The night Erza was emitted into the hospital he did that. He wasn't able to stay with her all night, since visiting hours end at nine, so he went back to his house. Even though he had Wendy right there, he still did that. He took the very knife Erza used up to his room. He knew it was a stupid idea, since he would have never wanted anyone to do that to themselves, but he knew that was the only way to reach her. He decided that he would take more cuts, too, if that meant Erza wouldn't do it to her own skin.

"Can I come in?"

Jellal looked up to see Laxus standing in the doorway. He nodded, pushing his sleeve back down. The blonde came over and sat in the second chair. They sat in silence for a while, both thinking. The two men had met a couple times. They weren't exactly friends, but they could sit in a room and talk if they needed to. They were often together a lot at different school events. Since he was the President of Mermaid Heel and Laxus was Makarov's grandson, they met up a lot.

"She's been in my Karate class forever, it seems," Laxus said, breaking the silence. He could remember that she wore the tightest shirts and those sweatpants with the elastic at the ankles. He never really thought anything of it, but now he knew that she didn't want her body exposed. He had asked her once about why she wore what she did. Without missing a beat, she told him that if she has tighter clothes, they wouldn't ride up and she won't bruise as easy. All the younger kids in the class that looked up to her started wearing tight clothes, too, so she didn't stand out after that. He had tried that once, wearing tight clothes, but that didn't make him bruise more or less. Now he wished he would have questioned her, forced her to tell him the real reason.

"I watched some of her fights before," Jellal said, looking down at his lap. "She was really good. Whenever I told her that, she would always stress the fact that I couldn't beat her if I tried." He clenched his fists, letting out a dry laugh. "I never realized that all she ever wanted was to beat me. I would have let her be President if she wanted. I never studied, so I couldn't just study less to get worse grades, but I could always miss a few on purpose. It didn't have to be this way."

"At least she did it by accident," Laxus said sadly. "She would have said goodbye if this was her goal. That should be a little comforting."

"How is Lucy doing?" Jellal asked. He would have apologized for being insensitive, but he knew that Laxus wasn't asking for an apology. He didn't know Lucy, but he could tell by the way Laxus never leaves her side that they were very close. The blonde had told him that when Lucy was fifteen her parents wanted to move to America. They had been dating a few months at that point, but they both knew they were meant to last, so he told her to live with him. It was clear that they couldn't live without each other, so it must be killing Laxus to see her sitting in the hospital bed over a stupid fight. They both knew better, though. Lucy had obviously been hurting for some time.

"She's still not breathing on her own," Laxus said, shaking his head. "She started to for a little bit, but now she can't anymore. The doctors said that she's fighting it, but her body just won't let her do things on her own for too long. They aren't even sure how affected she'll be when she wakes up, if she does. They haven't even gotten a chance to look at her brain yet. They said that she has to get more stable before they can operate or they'll lose her for sure."

"That's nice that you can stay here," Jellal said. "I guess that's the convenient thing about being the Principal's grandon. And isn't Cana's dad one of your teachers? Gildarts? He comes to give you your schoolwork, right?"

"Yeah, I'm really glad he does that," Laxus said. "It sucks that he has to be at school everyday. He likes to come see Lucy and this other kid. I know he mentioned something before about him. He's the kid that Lisanna dated for a while."

"Yeah, I hear he was mixed up in some bad drugs." Jellal looked at the clock on his phone. "It's about lunchtime. Do you want to go get something to eat? I'll call a nurse so they know Erza's going to be alone." He reached over to grab the remote with the red button, wincing slightly.

Laxus grinned. "Does your side still hurt?"

"Shut up," Jellal said, rolling his eyes. "That hurt like a bitch."

"I would feel so weird knowing I had half a liver." Laxus shivered at the thought.

Jellal laughed and followed the blonde out of the room. It certainly was an odd thought.

X

Gray found himself in darkness. He looked around, but he was surround by blackness. The air left his lungs. His hands shot up to his throat, trying to breathe. He felt like he was drowning. He started swimming up,searching for air. He eventually found the surface. He coughed and coughed until he could finally breathe. His eyes widened with horror when he saw he was swimming in blood.

"Take my blood!"

He looked up and saw that Lucy was in the purple sky. She was cutting her wrists, making it rain blood. Large drops rained down on him, making the ocean of blood boil. He screamed as his skin started to peel away.

"Don't think you can escape me," came an eerie whisper.

Gray turned around. He didn't see anyone.

"I'm always right there," the voice said again.

He knew it was Midnight, but he didn't know where he was.

"Just die already!"

The words vibrated through Gray's head, making him dizzy. He felt a pressure on his shoulders as he started to sink back into the blood. He thrashed around, but it was no use. He felt his heart slow down until it was barely beating. The burning in his lungs had stopped completely and his whole body felt numb. Was this what it's like to die?

X

"Gray!" Jellal yelled, shaking his cousin's shoulders. "Gray, wake up!"

After he ate lunch with Laxus, he went back to Gray's room to sit with him. He was there about ten minutes before Gray started whimpering in his sleep. One thing led to another and he was flailing around on his bed, mumbling something about blood and midnight, which seemed to be an odd combination.

Gray finally awoke. He sat up quickly, breathing heavy, which ended up hurting because of the surgery he had to have. Jellal pushed him back down, so that helped the pain in his chest, but he was still shaking. "H..he's going to get me," he said hysterically.

"Who?" Jellal asked. _What kind of dream was he having? _

Gray started to breathe heavier. He ripped the blanket off of himself. He had pants on, finally, but he wasn't appreciating that at the moment. He was checking to see if all his skin was there, since most of it had melted off in his dream. His chest and shoulders were covered in bandages, which were bloody from his cuts opening in his sleep. His eyes widened in horror, seeing the blood. He frantically grabbed the linen, trying to pulling it off of him. "B..bl...bloo...d!" he yelled, not able to form a full word.

"Gray, stop!" Jellal yelled, grabbing the raven's hands. He didn't understand why he was freaking out like that. His dream must have been truly horrible.

Gray looked around, taking in his surroundings. Everything seemed to be normal. When he looked to the chair beside Jellal, though, he saw Midnight sitting there. He let out a blood-curdling scream.

"Hello again," Midnight said, smirking. "Did you enjoy your dream? I couldn't have you forgetting about me. That wouldn't be good."

"Get away from me!" Gray yelled. _How does Jellal not see him?_ "And give my friends back!"

Jellal had already pressed the buttons for the nurses six times already. Amber came running into the room, along with a couple other nurses who heard Gray screaming. They ran over and tried to hold Gray down. His bandages were almost all gone, and he opened his wounds up again from clawing at himself.

"I can't do that, Gray," Midnight said, shaking his head. "They haven't learned their lesson yet. You have, so you get to go home. I'm here to help you all recover."

"That's a lie!" Gray wouldn't believe it. There was no way that they were going through so much torture to recover.

"We're going to have to put him to sleep," one of the nurses said, already pulling out the shot. "He'll cause more damage to himself if he goes on like this."

"Do you believe in demons, Gray?"

Everything went black before Gray could answer.


	16. Chapter 16: Where Sympathy Lies

**Do you know what I love about this story? **

**I love taking these strong, confident characters from an anime that everyone looks up to and change them into the most broken, defeated people ever. And then I make them have emotions that many people can relate to, instead of having them just wish they could be like them. I mean I've looked up to the four so many times and taken many lessons from their battles and experiences, so why can't someone else do the same? To get to see them torn down and then built up again. It just puts them in a whole new light and perspective. **

**Plus, Erza is the most confident and powerful of all of them in the show. She does have a hidden darkness with Jellal, but here I'm amplifying it. I'm making her the most broken person every, having so little control over herself that she has nothing else to do but hack at her own skin to feel alive. Of course that applies to the other three, but with Erza it's so much more.  
**

**Please Review!**

* * *

"I am so bored!" Natsu groaned for the tenth time. "It feels like years since Midnight has made us do something." He was laying on the pool table, his limbs dangling off the sides.

Erza raised an eyebrow at Natsu from the couch. "Are you saying that you want him to do something terrible to us?" She was enjoying the peace.

Natsu raised his head and folded his arms under his chin so he could look at Erza. "Not exactly," he began. "It's just kind of boring here without anything to do. The only thing here to do when Midnight isn't bothering us is play pool, and you and Lucy don't like that. Right, Lucy?" He looked up at the other couch for approval from his blonde friend, but she wasn't there. "Hey, Erza, where's Lucy?"

Erza looked up in surprise. She hadn't even noticed that Lucy was missing. She looked around the room. "Her door is closed, so she must be in there." She stood up and went to Lucy's room.

Looking inside quietly, Erza was surprised to see Lucy's curled up in the corner of the room, sobbing quietly to herself. The redhead closed the door, turned the light on, and went over to sit beside the blonde, who didn't even react to the intrusion. "Lucy, what's wrong?"

Lucy finally looked up at Erza, wiping her tears with her forearm. "I don't know what to do anymore," she sobbed, her voice beginning to crack. "I lost Laxus and now I lost Gray."

Erza had to stop and think about who Laxus was, then she remembered that she was talking about the Laxus she knew, as well. She understand that she felt bad about leaving Laxus like that, but what happened with Gray? "Lucy, did something happen between you and Gray?"

The room was silent for a minute. "Erza?" Lucy asked finally breaking the silence. "Is there someone that you love?" She noticed the redhead stiffen. "Is it Jellal?"

Erza took a deep breath, trying to calm her beating heart. "Jellal is...special to me." She needed to choose her words carefully.

"How far does that go?" Lucy could tell that this was a hard topic for Erza, but she also felt like she needed it off of her chest.

The world seemed to stop around Erza. She could feel her heart beating harder than it was a minute ago, harder than ever before. She felt every drop of blood coursing through her veins. Her skin started to itch. She knew this feeling well; the feeling of wanting to cut. The feeling became stronger, stronger, stronger, and stronger yet until the feeling began to consume her.

"Erza!"

Erza gasped, her eyes flying open. She looked up and saw that she was laying on her back, the ceiling spinning, but slowing down. _What was that?_ she thought. _Why did it go away? Was it Lucy?_

She slowly sat up, looking at the blonde who had tears rolling down her cheeks. "Erza, don't do that again! You're scaring me!"

Erza didn't know what Lucy was talking about. She felt her lips move, asking what the blonde meant, but she couldn't hear the sound. Lucy shook her head and kept talking, but the blood in her body was too loud for her to hear anything. It all started again. The beating, the noise, the static, the need to cut.

"Erza!"

Once again, Lucy's shout snapped her out of her thoughts. She winced, realizing her nails were digging into her arms. She released her grip, and not a moment later Lucy was in her arms,

sobbing into her neck.

"Erza, you're so amazing. I hate that you have to do that to yourself to make you feel better. It doesn't make sense to me at all, but I will really try. You are beautiful, smart, kind, and this isn't a place for you. I wish I could personally take you out of here, but I can't," Lucy said breathlessly, sobs still racking her body.

Erza's body turned cold. It was so unusual to hear the compliments she used to receive on a daily basis, but to hear them with such raw need and emotion. She knew that every word Lucy said came straight from her heart, yet she still couldn't believe them completely.

Cautiously, Erza wrapped her arms around the blonde. "I want to believe you," she said, tears slipping down her cheeks. "I want to believe you more than anything."

_Someday I will._

X

"It's so hard to see her like this," Cana whispered, reaching out to stroke Lucy's pale cheek. "I don't understand how Laxus does it."

Gildarts smiled weakly at his daughter. "I know, it's difficult. I've watched both you and Lucy grow up. I had to see her come to our house in tears not so long ago, saying that she had to move away and lose you. We get to actually keep her with us, only to have her lose herself."

"Dad," Cana said sharply, shaking her head. She felt tears brim in her eyes. She already told herself what Gildarts said nearly every day, so she didn't need him saying it. When he said it, he just amplified that she failed as a best friend. No, failed as a sister. "Laxus has it so much worse. We don't have the right to be sad about this. We need to work on trying to understand his pain, since he deserves it more."

"Cana, sympathy isn't give to those who deserve it most. It doesn't matter who's known her longer, loved her more, or who vists her more often. A loss is a loss, and the only thing to do is to try to remember the good times and hope for the best." Gildarts stood up and walked away, stopping in the doorway. "Besides, don't you know what it's like to almost lose who you love?"

"Bastard!" Cana yelled, throwing a box of tissues at her father, but he was gone before they could hit him. She clenched her fists and buried her face into Lucy's bedsheets.

It was almost an hour later when someone shook Cana's shoulder, waking her from her sleep. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her face lit up when she saw that it was Levy.

"Hey," the bluenette breathed, hugging the brunette. "I'm so sorry that I didn't come sooner. We only meant to stay out there for the weekend, but our flight got canceled. There was really bad weather and we couldn't get a plane back until now."

Cana laughed. "Didn't I tell you guys it was a bad time of here to go to Hawaii?" She let go of Levy and looked back towards the door. "Where's Gajeel, anyways?"

Levy pulled out the other chair and sat down. "He went to visit one of his friends. I guess someone else was put in the hospital at the same time. Weird, huh?"

Cana groaned. "You're telling me? Gray is here, as well. His cousin, Jellal, is visiting another girl." She looked to Lucy. "There really does seem to be something weird going on here."

"It sounds like it," Levy sighed. "I just don't understand why this had to happen. Why do people have to hate themselves so much?"

"Because the world is a fucked up place," Cana replied effortlessly.


	17. Chapter 17: Death

**Hello Everyone!**

**So I recently moved in with my mom two hours away from my dad in the town where I grew up. She had moved away with my stepdad (They have been married for years. They didn't move after marriage or anything) and I wanted to move with them. So tomorrow is going to be my third day of school. It's kind of lonely right now because I don't know many people so I might be writing a lot because of that (I tend to write more when I'm lonely or upset). So anyways, that's what's been going on. I didn't have the best home situation with my dad so I'm glad I'm out of there. And because it's not great with him, it also wasn't great to leave. That's why I haven't been updating. I'm not sure if I will be regular again or not, so please bare with me. My life is kind of overwhelming at the moment.**

**Getting some reviews would really make me smile, which I could use right now. So please review!**

* * *

"How are you feeling today?" Amber asked as she took Gray's vitals.

Gray stared blankly ahead. He felt as if he was hit by a freight train. He had just woken up but if he didn't know any better, he would say he hadn't slept at all. The night before was so overwhelmingly terrifying for him, and once the doctors put him to sleep he was forced to relive the dream again and again and again.

He really needed a drink.

"Your heartbeat seems a little slow, but that's just because the sedative hasn't completely worn off. You should calm down by tonight." Amber set her clipboard down and sat on the side of Gray's bed, putting her hand on his forehead. "Are you feeling alright? You gave us all quite a scare."

Gray didn't know what to say. He couldn't think of a way to explain what happened without sounding crazy. He had no one to tell, no one to go to. He barely knew what was happening. All he could think about was the blood and Midnight. He didn't feel safe. Since no one could see Midnight, that meant if he came for him, no one would know.

_Could Midnight be a demon?_

"We're going to have a psychologist come in to speak with you every day from now on," Amber said cautiously, trying to judge Gray's reactions. So far, his expression hasn't changed from its blank state. "Do you want anyone? I know Cana is visiting another patient, as is Jellal."

"No." He didn't want to see anyone. He still felt like he and Jellal weren't on good terms, plus he was too depressed about how Jellal was able to care for Wendy so easily and do it much better than he ever could. Cana wouldn't even bring him comfort.

"I have another patient to attend to, but don't hesitate to call if you need me," Amber declared, standing up. She looked at Gray once more time before leaving, closing the door behind her.

"Isn't she just the ever-caring nurse?" Midnight asked with a smirk on his face.

"Why do you have to keep bothering me?" Gray asked, slightly annoyed. "I know you've been sitting there the whole time." He looked up at Midnight, who was sitting on the windowsill above his bed.

"I just wanted to update you on your friends," Midnight said with offense clear in his voice, although it was fake.

"Then talk," Gray hissed. "I'm not in the mood for your childish games anymore."

Midnight laughed, his eyes glowing with glee. "You sound quite irritated. Maybe a drink would help?"

Gray felt something hit his stomach. He looked down to see a bottle of whiskey on his lap. His breath caught in his throat. His hands began to shake. "What are you playing at now? You know I'm in no state to drink. Besides, didn't you say your goal is to make us better?"

"Not completely." Midnight hopped down so he was hovering at the foot of Gray's bed, his legs crossed below him. "My goal is simply to have some fun. If I manage to teach you something along the way, good for you!" He was enjoying seeing Gray shake and tremble under the presence of his greatest sin. "Listen, it doesn't affect me one way or another if you drink that. You could drink it all, you could smash it on the floor. Do you think I care? It's your body you'd destroy, not mine."

Gray's jaw clenched. He wasn't sure what Midnight was playing at, but whatever it was, he didn't like the sounds of it so far.

Midnight moved so he was standing besides Gray. "I hope you know that Erza is going to wake up soon. She's recovering quite nicely, and I think she's missing her precious Jellal." He laughed. "I wonder what she'll say when she finds out that he's cut himself."

"What?" Gray gasped, his eyes widening. "Jellal cut himself?"

Midnight hummed. "It seems so. That doesn't matter though, does it? I mean, not when he has half a liver." He laughed wickedly before vanishing.

Gray's breathing became heavy. Jellal gave up half of his liver? For him? He didn't know Jellal cared about him so much. Then again, he may have done it just to make himself look good. Actually, that was the only reason that made sense.

Without a second thought, Gray flicked the cap off of the whiskey and poured it down his throat, relishing in the familiar burn.

X

Jellal sighed as he watched Erza's sleeping face. If it wasn't for the given circumstances, he would love to watch her sleep forever. Since she is indeed in a coma and yet to awake, he wanted her to wake up firstly, then when she's normally sleeping he would watch her face. For now, though, he just enjoyed being in her company.

A gasp escaped his lips. It felt as if her fingers closed tighter around his hand. He watched as her eyelashes fluttered slightly. _Was she waking up?_ Just in case, he pressed the button to call for the nurse.

Amber came in about five minutes later. She smiled at Jellal. "I was attending to another patient. I got here as quick as I could. Is she okay?" She quickly went to checking Erza's vitals.

"I think she's waking up," Jellal said, not bothering to hide the excitement in his voice. "She grabbed my hand and her eyelashes were fluttering."

Amber grinned. "I don't think she's waking up, but your story certainly matches with her vitals." She finished jotting down numbers before flipping to previous pages. "It seems as if she's slowly coming out of her coma. Today there's a big jump in her levels. I'd say she's sleeping now, so she should be waking up anytime now. I'd guess that she'll be awake within two days. If not, something might be seriously wrong."

Jellal felt a tear slip out of his eye, this time of happiness.

X

"Gray!" Cana gasped. She ran over to his bed. He was sleeping, which was completely normal, but he was half-off his bed. She saw how flushed his cheeks were and there was a faint scent of alcohol in the room. Her eyes widened in horror. "Gray, no!" she sobbed, falling to her knees.

A few nurses came running into the room, wondering what the shouting was. They quickly scanned the room, looking for the issue. They saw the empty whiskey bottle laying on the other side of the room, no doubt that it fell from Gray's grasp and rolled across the room.

"We need doctors, now!" one of the nurses yelled into the hallway.

A few different doctors came in and got right to work. One went to get a surgery room open, another started checking vitals with a few of the nurses, and others began scanning Gray's charts, trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong with his body. One nurse got Cana to her feet.

"No!" the brunette shrieked, pushing her away. She watched as Gray was moved out of the room and began chasing after him, the nurse quickly following.

Laxus, Jellal, and Wendy were just walking back from the cafeteria when they saw Gray roll passed, followed by Cana screaming and crying. Laxus quickly ran forward and stopped Cana. She struggled against him, trying to jump around him. He held her off of the ground, her body folded over his shoulder.

Jellal came behind Laxus, facing Cana. "What happened?" he asked, worry laced in his voice. Wendy was gripping his pant leg tightly.

"He was passed out...whiskey...the doctors don't know...I have to see him…"

"Cana, calm down!" Laxus scolded her, moving her so she was standing in front of him again. She collapsed into his arms. "Freaking out won't help anything. Right now we just need to hope that he gets better."

Laxus never knew Cana before, same as Jellal, but over the past weeks they had all begun to get to know each other. Laxus and Jellal often found themselves sitting with Erza, and Cana sat with Lucy often enough to know Laxus. They all worked together to try to get through the struggles of having their loved ones in the hospital, but they were about to be challenged with the ultimate test.

X

Wendy, Jellal, Cana, and Laxus were all sitting outside of the ER. They weren't actually allowed to be there, but none of them would even consider leaving. Many of the nurses took pity on them and made their stay in the hallway as comfortable as possible. They had a nice layer of pillows below them and against the wall, and they were frequently brought food and water, although no one but Wendy would eat anything. They all were too sick to their stomachs to worry about food.

Cana was sitting a little ways down from the group, rocking back and forth and sobbing to herself. Jellal and Laxus were sitting next to each other, Wendy curled up on Laxus' lap. She had fallen asleep an hour before. They had been sitting there about four hours.

All of their ears perked up when they heard footsteps running towards them. They looked down the hallway and saw Amber running with a wide smile on her face. At the same time, they heard the doors to the ER open, a doctor come out with his face downcast.

"Erza-"

"Gray-"

Amber and the doctor spoke at the same time. She stuttered in embarrassment and told him to speak first while he simply apologized and told her to speak.

"Well, Erza-"

"I'm sorry-"

They stopped once again. Amber let out a laugh, her heart light with news. The doctor sighed heavily, seeing that he was about to ruin great news.

Amber turned the group sitting along the wall. Wendy had woke up in the commotion. Amber mainly was looking at Jellal, but she did address the whole group. "Erza has woken up!" she said excitedly.

Jellal gasped and jumped to his feet. "She did?" Tears began streaming down his face.

"Yes, yes! She woke up moments ago. I had another nurse check her so I could get you. You can come down right now if-"

"No," the doctor said sharply, stopping Amber from speaking. He sighed heavily again. "I have terrible news for you four."

Cana's eyes widened. Her lips began to shake. "No, no, no, no," she started to mutter under her breath.

The doctor looked away, unable to look at their painful faces. "I'm afraid his liver couldn't take the sudden alcohol levels. His heart couldn't, either. It stopped minutes ago. We're trying as we speak to bring it back, but I believe it's time to prepare for the worse."

"DAMMIT!" Jellal yelled at the top of his lungs. He turned and rammed his fists against the wall, his shoulders beginning to shake. "Just when Erza wakes up."

"Gray is…dead?" Wendy asked in a quiet voice, lightly grabbing Jellal's pant leg.

"Once again, I'm terribly sorry," the doctor apologized.


	18. Chapter 18: Then There Were Two

**I haven't updated in a while, huh? This chapter is dedicated to **_**MissAlliCat**_**, who was kind of enough to PM me, asking how I was doing. This is her favorite story, she said, so I'm going to update this one for her. **

**I got a lot of crazy feedback from you guys with the last chapter. Sadly, you aren't going to see if Gray lives or not just yet. But you will see him briefly! **

**Please leave a review to encourage me to update sooner!**

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From the second the alcohol kissed Gray's lips his body overwent the strangest sensations. First, the warmth of the alcohol, then the bottle slipping from his hands. It felt as if he was flipped forward over his bed. His stomach flopped and the room spun in the strangest ways. Then everything went black.

It felt like only seconds had passed, but eventually he could see again. He was laying on his back. He sat up and looked around. He saw many nurses and doctors crowded around something. He tried to get to his feet the best he could. The room was still spinning, so it took him a minute, but eventually he was up. His eyes widened at what he saw.

His body was laying on the bed the professionals were crowded around. They were all checking screens, feeling pulses, and trying to get his heart started, from what he could tell.

"Foolish, aren't they?" Midnight asked.

"What are you doing?!" Gray shouted, running to the only free spot within the circle of people and towards Midnight. "You're keeping me from breathing!"

Midnight was in fact doing just that. He was sitting on Gray's chest, no doubt causing enough pressure to stop Gray's breathing. The doctors and nurses were reaching right through Midnight, which Gray found odd. He was there in a physical form capable of causing weight, yet solid objects could not pass through.

"Why are you doing this?" Gray asked hysterically. "I'm going to die!"

X

Amber couldn't take it any longer. She wasn't sure how long it had been since the doctor left, but she couldn't watch them be sad any longer. She decided to do something. "Cana, you and Wendy should go home. I don't think it's a good idea for either of you to dwell in all this sadness."

Jellal cleared his throat, afraid that if he spoke his voice would crack. "You can both stay at my place, if you want. Wendy knows where it is."

"Thank you," Cana said, putting her arm around Wendy. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go home to an empty house, since Gildarts was probably still somewhere in the hospital. Wendy was also comfortable at Jellal's, and it wouldn't be fair to make her any more uncomfortable. "I'll probably see you later tonight then." She led Wendy down the hall without another word.

"Right," Amber said, turning to the two boys. She smiled as wide as she could. "I believe you two have someone that just woke up."

Jellal jerked as if he was just electrocuted. "Erza!" he gasped. He turned to Laxus with hopeful eyes.

Laxus put his hand on Jellal's shoulder. "You go on ahead. I'll sit with Lucy. I can always visit Erza tomorrow. She needs you more than me."

Jellal smiled, something only minutes ago he swore he'd never be able to do again.

X

"Hmmm, which one?" Lucy mumbled to herself, looking at all the pills lying around her. She smiled when she saw a pink one with tiny blue stars on it. "This one looks pretty!" She carefully picked it up and popped it into her mouth.

Her breath caught in her throat as she heard the fabric on her back rip. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that wings began to sprout from her shoulder blades. Her eyes widened in delight. Jumping up into the air, she was amazed to see that she was hovering. It only took a moment to figure out how to use her wings. Not a minute later she was soaring through the sky.

"Lucy is really enjoying this," Erza said with a smile, watching the blonde fly around the large room they were placed in. She looked down at her own body, grimacing at the furry limbs that were now her legs.

"You're just upset because your legs turned into monkey legs!" Natsu laughed. He wiggled his head, letting his bunny ears flop around. "If you're so unhappy, why don't you take another pill?"

Erza shook her head. "I don't do drugs, Natsu." Lucy sure didn't seem to mind. Natsu was neutral about the whole thing.

"Sure, but you'll just cut yourself," Natsu scoffed, offended that Erza would openly mock him like that.

Erza shot a deadly glare, which the pinkette didn't see because he was watching Lucy again. She sighed and looked around. There were trees, a pond, a small mountain, and a field all within the room they were placed in.

"Erza!" Lucy shouted, landing and stumbling a few feet away. She ran up and handed Erza a letter. "I found this on top of the mountain."

Erza was puzzled. She saw her name written gold in a fancy font. She opened the letter and light burst from within. She watched as the light slowly enveloped her until she was completely glowly.

"Erza!" Lucy gasped, dropping to her knees. "Your legs!"

The redhead looked and saw that her legs were normal and slowly disappearing. Her eyes widened. She looked between Natsu and Lucy, tears brimming in her eyes. "Am I leaving?" She watched as scars slowly started forming on her skin, no doubt showing the state her body was supposed to be in.

Natsu and Lucy both jumped to hug Erza as she slowly disappeared. They never got to say goodbye to Gray and they weren't about to let the opportunity pass to say goodbye to Erza.

When she was finally gone, Lucy and Natsu fell to the ground. They both just laid there, letting sadness slowly envelope them. It felt like forever since Gray left, and now Erza was gone, too. Who knew how long it would be before the next person left? And what would happen when there was only one?

X

Gildarts sighed as he looked down at Natsu's face. It had been almost a month since he had been admitted into the hospital, and he couldn't wait for the day when he could hear his son's voice again.

Natsu had never been very amused with being watched over, but that didn't stop Gildarts. He always checked on Natsu, looking out for him the best he could. His mother had died when he was born, and his father left him at a young age to go off to fight in the war. Natsu had stayed with his grandparents, but they soon passed, too. He had claimed to be old enough to live on his own, so Gildarts bought him an apartment nearby his own home and checked on the boy frequently. And, by the time he turned fifteen, he had found a girlfriend. Gildarts had taken the opportunity to tease him any chance he got. He wasn't able to forever, though. Only a year later Lisanna would die in a car crash.

Gildarts shivered as he remembered that day. He wanted to be the one to tell Natsu, since he thought he wouldn't freak out as much. That was true, so he was afraid to see what Natsu would have done if he found out the news somewhere else.

When he did find out, Natsu screamed in rage. He broke anything in sight. Then he cried until he was out of tears. After sitting in silence for nearly an hour, he just left. Gildarts didn't know where he went, but he did find him the next day when the police came to his door to tell him Natsu was found passed out in an alley with a lot of drugs in his system. He had managed to convince the police not to do anything, promising he would take care of it himself.

Oh how he wished he would have let the police take Natsu somewhere to get help.

That fateful day was imprinted into his mind. The scene ran through his head constantly. Some days he was able to block it out to work, but when he was alone there was nothing to stop the memory.

_Gildarts whistled to himself as he pulled into a parking space along the run-down apartment building. He noticed Natsu's car just ahead of his, and it wasn't parked very straight. He just sighed and made his way inside. After walking up two flights of stairs, he finally reached Natsu's apartment. He was surprised to see that the door was half open. He pushed it open the whole way and looked inside._

_Gildarts' eyes widened in horror. "Natsu?!" he practically screeched. He ran over and dropped onto the floor in front of the couch. He lifted the boy up and patted his cheeks a couple times, then tried shaking him. "No, Natsu!" Tears fell from his eyes as he rested his forehead against the pinkette's. "Not my son!" _

Gildarts' shoulders shook, trying not to cry again. He had cried so much in the last month, a lot more than he would like to admit. Once again failing to stop his tears, he laid his forehead against Natsu's, succumbing to the heavy sorrow in his heart.


	19. Chapter 19: I will not Die

**A/N: I got a lot of review from the last chapter! I'm glad to see that you're all liking this story! I hope I continue to entertain you with this. Make sure you all let me know what you think of this chapter.**

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"I wonder how long Midnight is going to keep us here," Lucy wondered. She was resting her arms outside of the pond, her legs-turned-fins lazily floating in the water behind her.

"I hope we get out soon," Natsu said, hugging his knees a little tighter.

"Why?" Lucy asked. "This is great!"

Natsu shook his head, making his bunny ears flop around. "I don't like this. Do you even realize that this is like taking drugs?"

"You turned into a bird before when you take pills?" Lucy asked, trying not to laugh. A few giggles escaped, though.

Natsu used his foot to splash Lucy with water. "I didn't mean that exactly, idiot. I mean the sensations. Everything is enhanced. You feel like you're flying."

"Is that why you did it?" Lucy asked, dropping her voice to just above a whisper. She was afraid that she would upset him by asking, so she wanted to ask as gently as possible.

Natsu sighed. _Why did I do it?_ The first time was to escape the reality of Lisanna's death. Thinking back, that's exactly why he continued to do it: to escape reality. "I'm sure you know what it's like to want to escape something."

Lucy's gaze shifted to the ground. She knew all too well.

X

"Why are you doing this?" Gray asked hysterically. "I'm going to die!"

"Dammit!"

It was faint, but Gray still heard the shout. Midnight did, as well, and smirked. "It seems like your friends were just informed about your death. Your heart has stopped completely."

Gray watched in horror as all the nurses and doctors stepped away, shaking their heads and looking sad. One man moved a sheet over Gray's face. Others began to disconnect machines. They were just letting him go.

"Why are you doing this? Tell me!" Gray didn't understand why he was in the form he was, able to see everything around him, but he almost wished he wasn't able to. Seeing yourself die was horrible.

"You lost the game, Gray," Midnight grinned. "I really thought you were going to win, but you couldn't pass the last test. I can't let you live any longer."

X

"How much longer do you think until she wakes up?" Levy asked, looking down at Lucy's face.

"Who knows," Gajeel said. "Come on, Shrimp. We have to get you home so you can get to the library. I don't know if your boss would be happy with you being late again."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Levy sighed, standing up. She grabbed Lucy's hand briefly before walking towards the door.

When they opened the door, they both saw Cana and Wendy rush past. They were clearly upset about something. They had only taken a couple steps down the hallway when they heard two new sets of footsteps. Laxus ducked into Lucy's room and Jellal brushed right past them. "What's up with them?" Gajeel grumbled, causing Levy to shrug.

Jellal slowed down his pace when he knew he was far away from Gajeel and Levy. He didn't really have the time to stop and explain things. He hadn't even noticed when they too have been added to the little family at the hospital that they have all established. He guessed that it was only a matter of time before others joined them, as well, but he hadn't realized his family was growing so soon.

When Jellal finally reached Erza's room, his heart stopped. He didn't know what he would say or what he _should_ say. _What will Erza say? Does she even want to see me? _His questions were answered when he opened the door.

Erza looked at him for only a second before looking down at her lap.

"Erza," Jellal said heavily, a smile reaching his cheeks. He hurried over to the empty chair beside the bed. He was pleased to see that he was out of tears, since he didn't want her to see him crying. "You're finally awake."

"Where's Gray?" Erza asked, moving her gaze to Jellal's face slowly.

Jellal was taken aback. Not because he was surprised that she knew Gray, no. He was jealous. The first words that she speaks to him is about Gray? His heart clenched, realizing what he had to tell her. "He was here," he began to explain. Gray's death weighed so heavy on his heart, he didn't even think that Erza shouldn't know or care about his troubled cousin.

"_Was_?" Erza asked hotly, horror spreading across her face. "Don't tell me he's dead!"

"You woke up at the same time," Jellal said. He found he wasn't, in fact, out of tears as they began to form in his eyes and spill down his cheeks.

X

Midnight jammed his elbow into the body's chest, proving his point.

"No!" Gray cried. He fell to his knees, suddenly unable to breathe. He grabbed at his throat.

"See? Your spirit is even dying," Midnight chuckled.

Gray clenched his fists and got to his feet. "You bastard!" He lunged at Midnight, knocking him off the bed. "I hate you! Just die already!"

They both heard a gasp. Gray jumped up, running back over to the bed. He pulled the sheet down and saw that his body was trying to breathe again. He smiled wide. "I'm breathing. I'm _breathing!_"

"Not for long," Midnight growled. He grabbed an extra sheet sitting on a nearby counter and began shoving it in Gray's mouth the best he could.

Gray grabbed Midnight's waist and threw him away. "Stop, dammit!" He held Midnight down and tried to choke him. "I'm not going to die so easily! I'm going to get better and live for Wendy and Cana and Jellal and Lucy and Erza and Natsu and everyone else!" He took a breathe, surprised at how much he just spoke at once. "You're the one that's going to die!"

Midnight began to laugh. He grabbed Gray's hands tightly, his nails digging into his skin. "Kill a demon? By choking me? Nice try, Boy." He flipped around so he was on top. He put his hand on Gray's forehead. "How about I just crack your skull?"

"He's breathing!" someone shouted. "He's alive!"

Gray's eyes widened. He could barely see the nurses crowding around his bed. He looked back up at Midnight. The smirk began to fade. The pressure on his head got lighter and lighter. Before he knew it, he was gasping and sitting up in bed. He was no longer trapped under Midnight, but instead returned to his body.

"Please lean back!"

"Don't sit up yet!"

"You're still weak, so please take it easy."

He didn't usually like attention, but at that moment he was happy for the nurses fawn over him. He wished he had the energy to greet them and tell them everything was okay, but sleep soon overcame him.

X

Erza and Jellal heard a knock on the door. They let go of each other's hands and wiped their eyes, not wanting to look like a mess to whoever was on the other side of the door. Any more of a mess, that is.

A nurse opened the door and asked to speak with Jellal in private. He went outside of the room with her, and she told him that Gray was alive, despite his heart stopping for a few minutes. Jellal was overjoyed to hear the news, glad that his cousin, yet again, didn't have to leave this world. He didn't tell Erza, though, because there were more important things to discuss. So, he went back inside and sat down again.

"Erza, we need to talk," Jellal said, his tone surprisingly serious.

Erza nodded. Her throat was suddenly feeling very dry. She knew exactly what he was going to talk to her about, so she buried her arms under the blanket on her bed. The conversation would expose her enough; she decided he didn't need to see her scars, too.

"How long have you done this to yourself?" Jellal asked. He stared at the blanket covering the redhead as if he could see right through it. See right through _her_. She shrunk back slightly. His gaze softened as he looked up to her face. "Erza, if I had known-"

"You would have what?" Erza asked. She found herself becoming very angry very quickly. "You would have stopped me? You would have made me even more of an outcast? Don't think for a second that you can undo a whole lifetime of the pain, that you could undo two years of what I've done." She didn't need to elaborate on what exactly she's been doing, since that was painfully obvious. Painful in more ways than one, she realized.

Jellal turned pale. "No, I wasn't-" He pressed his lips together tightly. "Erza, I want to help."

Erza's eyes widened in anger. "No, you don't," she said. "You want to be better than me. Admit it! you enjoy seeing me here in this bed. You enjoy seeing how weak I am because it makes you seem that much stronger." He was about to say something, but she didn't let him. "Get out. _Get out!"_

Jellal didn't want to make her any more angry than she already was, so he had no choice but to leave her alone, his mind swirling with a thousand questions and a thousand emotions.


	20. Chapter 20: Miss Scarlet

**I'm super sorry about the long wait! My beta reader has been sick, I've had two people pass away in the last week, and school has been pretty crazy. Hopefully we'll get ahead in the next couple days.**

**I got mostly positive reviews for the last chapter, so I hope you all continue to love this story. There will be a few changes, so make sure you bare with me if you don't quite agree with them at first. Trust me, it'll out work out great :)**

**Please leave a review!**

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"Get over to the wall," Midnight commanded. He watched as Natsu and Lucy exchanged confused glances. "Did I stutter? _Now!_"

Natsu and Lucy jumped in surprise, then ran over to the left wall. The room they were standing in was completely bare, so they weren't sure which wall he wanted them at. With Midnight being angry, though, they realized they shouldn't be questioning anything.

Midnight snapped his fingers and chains sprouted from the wall, wrapping around Natsu and Lucy's limbs. Lucy winced when a link dug into her side a little too tightly. Midnight simply smirked.

He began to pace back and forth, making the duo even more nervous. "Now," Midnight began. "It has come to my attention that I'm being too nice." He suddenly stopped and his gaze bore daggers into Natsu's forehead. "I will be honest with you two. Originally I brought you all here just to have a little fun. When I saw that you all seemed to be learning something, I figured I might as well let these games have a purpose: returning you to your loved ones better than you left them. That isn't working. Your friend isn't cooperating. It seems that he is still having a hard time resisting alcohol."

"Gray!" Lucy gasped. "What did you do to him!" She fought against the chains. "If you hurt him-" A new chain wound itself around her neck and up to her mouth, tightening into a gag. The metal squeezed against her jaw, tearing the skin there slightly. A tear slipped from her eye.

Midnight's eyes gleamed something dangerous. "Watch your mouth, Girl, or I'll tear it in half!" To prove his point, the chain tightened. He watched as Natsu's jaw clenched. The boy was clearly debating whether or not to fight back for his friend. "As I was saying before I was _rudely_ interrupted, things need to change. And nothing will change again unless Red can prove that being nice may have its advantages. Until then, have fun here."

When Midnight disappeared, Natsu and Lucy relaxed. The chain was still around Lucy's mouth, but it wasn't pulling quite as tight as before. "It'll be okay," Natsu told her. "If he is just tying us up for a while then I think we're going to be just fine."

As it turned out, the next Game wasn't just being chained to a wall. The floor slowly started to disappear and a bubbling, steaming green liquid took it's place. A nauseous gas began to fill the air, making their stomachs turn.

"Is he trying to make us sick?" Natsu squeezed his eyes shut to keep the gas from making them water more. "We haven't eaten anything since being here, anyways, so it's not like we'll actually vomit!"

Lucy let out a muffled scream as the chains around her feet were loosened. She was just able to move her foot an inch away from the wall, which wasn't bad, but she had a feeling that they would eventually loosen further. And, a moment later, the chains around her waist loosened just enough for her to slide down the wall. Her toes dipped into the boiling acid. A sharper scream left her lips, the chains around her mouth tightening in the process.

Natsu gasped when he saw the burns on Lucy's feet. He certainly didn't want the same happening to him, but not a moment after Lucy's chains were loosened a second time, his took a giant leap from the wall. He was submerged up to his ankles, and he had no chain to muffle his screams. He wailed as he tried to pull himself up, but the chains around his waist tightened completely, leaving him completely unable to move upwards.

All of Lucy's chains would loosen, but she wasn't able to pull herself up because of the one in her mouth. Natsu didn't have a chain around his mouth keeping him up, so the tight chain around his waist would just move around the wall. The two slowly slid down, down, and further down until they were completely submerged and it felt as if their skin was peeling away from their bones.

X

Erza's eyes darted from one side of the room to the other, her teeth making quick work of the last bits of nail exposed on her fingers. She had been awake for over an hour, and her heart had not been able to calm to a natural pace.

The nurses had given her a sedative, and she didn't know how long she had been sleeping. _Are they trying to make me sleep away my natural life? _

All of her cuts are her arms were securely bandaged. _Are they so disgusted they can't look at them bare? _

And, above all, she can see that the chair beside her bed has been moved from the position she had last seen it in. _Am I being watched while I sleep? Are they just waiting for me to stop breathing so they can celebrate?_

Her heart began to beat even faster when there was a knock on the door. _Who is on the other side? Are they going to hurt me, experiment on me? _

The door slowly opened, revealing a man in a white coat. His deep red hair was slicked down by hair gel, which even she could see from across the room. He had a smile on his face that could either be friendly or sinister; she couldn't decide which is was. _Sinister, probably._ His skin was a dark brown, making her wonder what nationality he was. _It doesn't matter if he's a freak. Only you are! _

"Hello, Miss Scarlet," the man said. He had a clipboard tucked under his arm, and he pulled it into his hands as he sat in the chair beside Erza's bed. The pen stuck behind his ear was removed and a sharp _click!_ rang in the room as he clicked the cap.

Erza rubbed her arms nervously, wishing more than ever that the bandages would just come off.

The man crossed his right leg over his left. "I'm Dr. Oracion and I came to talk to you for a while." He gave her another questionable smile. "Is that okay?"

"No," Erza said flatly. She wanted to look away to further prove her defiance, but she was afraid at what he would do if she did.

Dr. Oracion's smile faltered, but it still remained stuck on his face. "Miss Scarlet," he began. He looked at his clipboard. "Erza Scarlet. May I call you Erza?"

"_No_," Erza said, once again using the most unfriendly tone she could muster.

This time, Dr. Oracion's smile dropped completely. "Okay, Miss Scarlet it is," he said. He scribbled something onto the paper on his clipboard, and Erza couldn't imagine him already having something to write down. She had only said two words to him, and they hadn't even been different.

"I'm sorry if you don't want to talk to me," Dr. Oracion went on, "but there are a few things I need to tell you about." He flipped the top page up over the back of his clipboard. "From the looks of your charts, you should be able to be released soon."

Surprise flashed across Erza's features. _Do they really think I'm well enough to go home? Are they just ignoring why I'm here?_ She wasn't sure why she was questioning her release, since she would do anything to get out of the cold bed and back to her own room.

Dr. Oracion noticed her expression and chuckled. "No, you won't be released completely," he said. He had clearly seen people assume the same thing before. "You will be placed in our Rehabilitation Center."

Erza didn't like how he said "placed." It was as if she was a stray animal needing a home.

"Three other doctors and myself supervise Rehabilitation. That's why I'm here to introduce myself. Also, I need to see if you're ready to continue on in your recover." He set his clipboard on the ground at his feet and looked up at Erza with a very serious expression. "If I see that you are emotionally stable enough, you will be allowed to go to Rehabilitation. You will be with other people around your age with troubles, such as yourself."

Erza didn't like how he said "trouble," either, but she wasn't about to dwell on that. She was too concentrated on the rest of what he said. If she was going to be around other people her age with "troubles," then would she see addicts there? _Would I see Gray? _

"Erza," Erza said with a shaky voice. She looked up at Dr. Oracion and tried to smile, though it came out more as a grimace. "You can call me Erza."

Dr. Oracion picked up his clipboard again and scribbled something down. "Well, Erza." He stood up and smoothed down his white coat. "I'll see you after you finish sleeping."

Erza felt a sudden wave of exhaustion. She looked up and to her left, surprised to see a nurse standing there, putting a sedative into her IV.

She let her eyes fall, hoping she would dream of Gray, Lucy, and Natsu.

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_**Notice: I'm going to include this notice on the next update for all my stories, so if you have already read this, please feel free to exit this chapter. Also, note that a copy of this "speech" will be on my profile.**_

_**I understand that not everyone is going to like my writing. I welcome critique because it makes me a better writer. I have had people in the past leave mean reviews, which some people refer to as "flames." I will admit that initially I do get a little angry at the people, but then I realize that those people are probably just ignorant of themselves. This is why I wanted to take a moment to discuss what this guest wrote and why it was very wrong of them.**_

_**Let's Play a Game, Chapter 8, Guest: Disappointed this seems gayer ... disgusting…**_

_**Let's Play a Game, Chapter 9, Guest: This is so gay LOL**_

_**Let's Play a Game, Chapter 10, Guest: This story is rubbish as hell, i'm fell to read just bc some fucktard friends said it good... this story reak rubbish and full with gay ... it is lame and stupid suit for stupid ppl to read it...i cannot read anymore... please ! kill yourself !**_

_**Okay, let's dissect this. First of all, this guest used "gay" as a negative thing, which in itself is used improperly and can be very offensive. My goal is not to assess people's beliefs about being gay or what context "gay" can be used in.**_

_**My major issue is their review for Chapter 10 and their repetitive reviews. First of all, leaving three negative reviews is very much getting your point across. Many authors use writing as their outlets for themselves. Having someone dislike your story, your outlet, can be a little upsetting, but this level of hate and negativity can affect some people. Saying "kill yourself" along with that can really damage the author.**_

_**Also, saying "kill yourself" in general is terrible. Suicide is not a joke. I honestly find it a little ironic that this guest decided to leave this phrase in a review for Let's Play a Game, which has such a focus on self-harm and it's about Fairy Tail's main character's having committed suicide. Which also leads me to wonder why someone would give such hate to a story about such mature and strong topics, as well as a story that I hope some of you take advice and hope from.**_

_**Lastly, as a small side note, I dislike how the guest mentioned that Let's Play a Game is for "stupid ppl" to read. If I happened to be looking through the reviews of a story I very much enjoyed I would honestly feel quite offended. So not only has this guest put me inside this "box" of negativity, they have also subjected you, my readers, to it.**_

_**Some of you may have thought this note to be unnecessary or a waste of time, but I personally feel that this is a message that everyone who reads or writes stories should read. It can be a little scary to put yourself out there through writing or any other outlet, so a little respect is always appreciated. And if any one of you feel the need to leave a less than a supportive review, please, please, please review what you are saying and try to think about how the author feels to hear your words.**_

_**Thank you all for taking the time to read through this.**_


	21. Chapter 21: Rehab

**Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the late update. I'm behind on basically all of my stories, so I totally forgot that I have tons of chapters done and edited for this story. I'll try to update this story again by the end of the week to make it up to you guys. **

**I want to take a second to appreciate a review I got recently for this story by TwilightWolfk 13: _I know from the date that it has been a while since anything has been published but I wanted to leave my opinion anyway. I appreciate this story so much. I have worked in a psychiatric hospital for the past two years, often working with teens who are just like this. The amount of turmoil that these patients and their families go through after a suicide attempt or an accidental overdose is heartbreaking. Families often don't understand the feelings that they have, and the range of emotions that can be felt. I find that the way these chapters have played out are so true to life. I want to thank you for it. It gives a perspective that so many people have trouble understanding._ I just love getting positive reviews for this story because I get so much negative feedback, but this? This is great! I was so happy when I saw that my story has touched people. The fact that my story has the potential to change peoples' views for the better is just wonderful. I have had people around me in my lifetime with issues with depression and suicide, and I'm so glad that my personal experiences, experiences from books, and my own assumptions are able to fully portray the struggle people go through every day. **

**Please leave a review to let me know how this story has effected you and your opinions and comments. (Constructive criticism is welcome but please remember that I am a real person with real feelings!)**

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_**Rehab**_

"Need a refill?"

Jellal didn't even look at Laxus as he pulled out a chair and sat across from him. He slid a cup of coffee over to him, and Jellal quickly grabbed it, enjoying the warmth that spread through his hands.

"Jellal," Laxus said gently. "I really think you should go home. You've been here a week, only leaving for school. We're all really worried about you."

Jellal took the lid off of his old coffee cup and stuck it on the one Laxus gave him. It was still too hot to drink, he supposed. "I can't leave," he said firmly. "I have to be here so the second she wants me I can be there for her."

Laxus wasn't sure what to tell Jellal. He certainly couldn't tell him that Erza didn't want to see anyone, especially the bluenette. He had actually tried a few times to see her himself, but each time she made him leave. He did get to talk to Dr. Oracion one day, though, and the doctor said that if Erza didn't see anyone then she can't move on to her next phase of recovering. Erza was quick to tell Laxus to sit down. They sat in silence for nearly an hour before he told her that he needed to go. Dr. Oracion later asked if they talked and he lied and said they did.

"Jellal Fernandes? Laxus Dreyar?" a nurse inquired. She looked up from her clipboard and flashed them a smile. Laxus returned it, but Jellal continued to stare at his coffee cup. "I wanted to inform you that Miss Scarlet is ready to leave the hospital and move to our Rehabilitation Center. She will be accepting guests for another twenty minutes."

Laxus looked at Jellal, waiting for the man to say something. When he didn't, he looked back to the nurse. "Thank you, we'll make sure to stop and see her," he told her. After she left, he looked back at Jellal. "You probably won't be able to see her for a while. Usually in Centers they have to make so much progress before they can have visitors."

Jellal took a drink of his coffee. It burned his tongue, but that didn't stop him from taking another sip. "You can go," he said. "I'm good here."

He was probably the one who put her in the hospital. How could he possibly go and see her? She didn't even want him near her. It was probably best for her not to be around him for a while so she can recover properly, he decided. He realized that already, even no one else had.

X

"I don't think I can take any more of this," Lucy whispered. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

Natsu lunged forward and punched with all his strength. "Honestly," he scoffed. "Wolves? Really? Midnight really is getting creative."

Lucy yelped when a wolf nearly grabbed her foot. She moved back behind Natsu, who was working hard to fight off all the wolves. "I don't even think he's trying to teach us lessons anymore," she said. "He's just giving us difficult challenges next."

"He said that he wasn't happy with Gray's progress, right?" Natsu kicked a wolf to the side and then punched another. It seemed like they were appearing out of thin air. "From the sounds of it, this are going to be rough for us unless Erza or Gray can pull themselves together."

"Right," Lucy agreed. She tried to hit a wolf away herself, but it took another three kicks to knock it down completely. She wasn't a very good fighter, which was why she had left the wolves to Natsu to begin with. It seems like there were too many for just him now. "I wonder if they're doing okay."

Natsu didn't respond, because now the wolves were becoming too much. They were starting to tear at his clothing and exposed skin, making him thankful that his injuries weren't hurting as much as usual.

X

"This will be your new room," Dr. Oracion said. He motioned to the closed door in front of him. It was marked G1. "You will come back here tonight."

Erza followed behind Dr. Oracion and looked at all the doors as she passed them. On one side of the hallway she saw rooms labeled G1, G2, G3, and G4. On the other side she saw rooms labeled similarly but rather than a "g" they had a "b". She saw V1 and V2 across from each other next. The next set of rooms were O1 and O2, which was across the hall from O3 and O4. She could see one more door farther down the hall, as well as an elevator, but Dr. Oracion opened O4. He motioned her to follow her inside. She discovered that it was an office, no doubt his.

"Please, have a seat," Dr. Oracion said. He sat down at his large desk. She sat down on the couch parallel to his desk. "Everyone should be going to their rooms now, so I figured I would bring you here to talk for a bit before you met your new roommate."

Erza didn't want to cooperate more than she had to, so she didn't ask all the questions that were bouncing around in her head. She wanted to know who her roommate was. Did she have more than one? Was it a boy? A girl? She wanted to know how many people were here, if any _cut_. It would be nice to have someone understand her.

Dr. Oracion put on the smile that Erza still couldn't figure out the intentions behind. "Here in the Rehabilitation Center, we are all friends," he said. "Because of that, I encourage you to call me by my name. If you'd rather call me my professional name that's fine, but I'd really love to hear you call me Erik."

Erza pursed her lips. She wasn't sure how comfortable she was calling her doctor by his first name. He was right, though. It would make it seem more like they were friends. He couldn't be more than ten years older than her to begin with, meaning he _was_ quite young. "Erik," she said, trying the name on her lips.

Erik smiled, and this time she knew he was not trying to look sinister. "I'll take you to your room now," he said. He stood up and motioned for him to follow him, and they were walking down the hallway once again. "I'm sure your roommate would be happen to help you tomorrow, so I won't see you again until Reflection Time."

Erza wasn't too sure how she liked the sound of Reflection Time, but she had no time to even think about questioning what that could be. The two had already arrived at G1, her new room. Erik knocked twice on the door before going on, not even waiting for a response. "I brought your new roommate," he said.

Erza's eyes widened when she saw the girl sitting on the mattress resting on the floor by the far wall. She was thin with olive toned skin. Her hair was a dark brown and pulled up into a pony-tail, though many shorter pieces stuck out and framed her face. Her chocolate eyes held no interest all. Overall it seemed that she had no interest at all in Erza.

"I'll leave you two to it," Erik said, not at all noticing the air becoming increasingly tense. He nodded at Erza before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

"Uh, I'm Erza Scarlet," Erza said awkwardly, not sure what to say. She looked around the room and saw two mattresses laying beside each other with only a few feet between them. There was a set of tan scrubs much like the her roommate's sitting on her bed. There was one small window in the room and a secured ceiling light, but that was all. The room was otherwise bare.

"Harcos," the girl said simply, not offering a last name. She looked even less amused than before, if that was possible. "Change fast. The light goes out in ten minutes. In two hours if you aren't asleep they'll make you." She rolled over onto her side and pulled her thin blanket farther up her body.

Erza quickly stripped out of her clothes and put on the tan scrubs. The fabric was cold and itchy. There was also a hair tie there, but she decided against using it. She threw it on top of the hospital gown and laid down on her mattress. She found it odd that there wouldn't be a bed frame, but she had a feeling a lot of things would be strange in the Rehabilitation Center.

In two hours, Erza watched as a nurse came into the room and took her clothes. Another came in after her and injected Harcos with a syringe, no doubt the sleeping agent Harcos told her about. The nurse came over to Erza next, which made her heart race. Her arm was roughly grabbed before she felt the long needle press into her skin. She felt the world spin a moment before she was plunged into darkness.


	22. Chapter 22: Day 1

**I few people have been asking about the pairing in this story. As of right now I'm thinking of going with Gray x Cana, Jellal x Erza, and Lucy x Laxus. I might go back to GraLu if I get enough support for it, so make sure you review and let me know.**

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_**Day 1**_

Erza jolted awake and sat up. She looked around frantically, trying to decipher her surroundings. Her breathing calmed as she remembered where she was: G1, her new room. Harcos, her olive-skinned roommate, was changing into a set of light blue scrubs. She became transfixed when she saw the intricate line of ink running up her roommate's body. They were on her stomach, legs, arms, _everywhere._

"You better change," Harcos told the redhead. She still had no enthusiasm in her voice.

Erza picked up the pair of light blue scrubs at the foot of her mattress. She quickly changed, wondering if Harcos was looking at her scars. When she looked over her shoulder, though, the girl was busy looking out the small window.

There was a sharp ringing coming from the hallway. Harcos didn't explain what it was and Erza didn't ask. The former simply opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Erza did the same. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw five other teenagers standing there. Before she could get a closer look at any of them, they all starting moving, pushing her down the hallway. Her eyes followed all the doors and eventually she saw that the last door she didn't get to see the night before was F1. The boys crammed onto the elevator while the girls stayed behind.

Erza could now look at the other girls. There were two new faces. The one girl, no older than fifteen, had strawberry blonde hair. She was rather short but had a large chest to make up for it. Her fingernails were in her mouth, her dark green eyes widely darting around anxiously. The second girl had a her blue hair cut into what was once probably a pixie cut, but has since grown out nearly to her shoulders. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, but she didn't look angry or annoyed as Harcos seemed to always look. Both girls were wearing the same light blue scrubs.

The second girl smiled and turned to face Erza. "My name is Juvia," she said. She motioned to the girl with strawberry blonde hair. "This is Amelia." Amelia flinched when her name was mentioned and took a step away from everyone else.

Erza smiled, grateful that at least one of the other girls weren't distant with her. "I'm Erza," she said. "I'm new here."

The elevator door opened, and the girls all stepped on. There were no buttons inside, so Erza assumed someone else controlled the door from an external panel. Erza could feel that they only went up one level before the elevator stopped on the second floor. They passed F2, F3, R1, and R2 before going into C1, which was across the hall from C2. Both C1 and C2 had no door, so the sign was above the doorway. After going inside, Erza discovered that the room was a cafeteria. The four girls walked up to the one window and, one by one, were given a tray.

The table in the room had six chairs connected it. Harcos sat beside Amelia, who was still chewing her fingernails. Juvia sat across from Harcos, so Erza decided to sit across from Amelia. All of their trays were styrofoam and had an apple, a carton of orange juice, and a piece of toast covered in a thin layer of jelly.

"They monitor how many calories we eat a day," Juvia explained. "When we leave they'll make sure we ate and drank everything. They don't want anyone overeating or eating too little."

"What happens if we don't eat everything?" Erza asked. She had previously decided not to talk to anyone, but Juvia seemed like a nice girl. Besides, from the way things were looking, she might as well make some friends. She wanted to get out of the Rehabilitation Center as soon as possible, so it was also good to have someone to explain how everything worked and how to impress Dr. Oracion, or Erik, as he prefered he called her.

"W-w-we go to Reflection T-T-Time," Amelia stuttered, her eyes darting around faster than before. She began ripping her toast to shreds, getting jelly all over her fingers in the process.

"What's Reflection Time?" Erza asked. She wanted to know why Amelia was so twitchy and why she felt the need to rip her food, but she didn't want to seem rude or nosy. Oddly enough, Amelia had already eaten all the small pieces of her toast. She quickly drank down her juice before beginning to shred the carton.

"There are two rooms for Reflection, R1 and R2," Juvia explained. She was working her way through her apple first. "It's basically where you go if you need some time to yourself."

"That's what they say," Harcos scoffed. She had already finished her whole breakfast. Erza wondered if maybe they didn't have much time to eat and that was why everyone was finishing so fast. She decided to eat fast, too.

"Yeah, y-y-you know all about th-that," Amelia stuttered. Her apple was already gone. She started rubbing her hands together.

"They make you sit in a cushioned room by yourself for a while," Harcos began to explain. "If you do something like not finish your food, then you'll just go during the set time. If you something really bad, though, you go right away." It was the most Erza has heard her say at one time.

"Plus it goes on your record," Juvia added. "I have a theory. I think every time you get a mark on your record you're here one day longer than you should be."

"How do you figure that?" Erza asked. If her theory was true, then she didn't want to get any marks.

"Look at me. Eight months ago I tried to kill myself." Juvia didn't even bat an eye as she gave away the serious and personal information. "How long do you think it would take to get over that? I mean, I went through all the counseling, cried a few time, blah, blah, blah. You'd think I'd be out by now. I didn't eat for two weeks after getting here. That would be three checks a day. Not cooperating a few times here, not doing work a few times there, and BOOM!" She threw her hands into the air, which made Amelia jump. "I'm here for another God-knows-how-many months!"

"If your theory is right, then I'll be here until I die," Harcos said. She didn't explain further, but Erza could guess that Harcos got in trouble a lot.

The same sharp ringing from before came from the hallway, louder this time because there was no door to block some of the sound. Erza followed the other girls to the window again where they would hand over their trays. The women that gave them their lunch seemed pleased that they all ate everything.

"Good morning, ladies," a kind voice said. Erza looked and saw a shorter women with kind eyes and blonde hair that was pulled back into a bun. She wore a loose white dress and seemed completely at ease. "Miss Scarlet? My name is Dr. Vermillion, but please call me Mavis."

Erza remembered again thatDr. Oracion asked her to call him Erik. It seemed that all the doctors preferred to have a more friendly relationship with everyone. Remembering Juvia's theory about good behavior, Erza quickly said, "You can call me Erza." Mavis seemed please.

"Every morning after breakfast we have First Education," Mavis explained. "You will be in E1 with me, so I decided to come escort you myself."

The two walked out of the room and back to the elevators. Everyone else had already left, so Mavis and Erza stepped right inside. Mavis pulled out a remote, answering Erza's question about floor controls. They went up one more floor, then began walking down the hallway. They passed C3 and D2 before coming to E1 and E2. Erza could just see S1 a little farther down the hall. Mavis opened the door to E1 and led Erza inside.

E1 was a very simple room. There was a desk up front for Mavis with a chalkboard on the wall behind her seat. Rather than having desks, there were a few beanbag chairs thrown onto the floor. On the wall opposite of the door was a long counter, which had different stationary supplies and a few clear containers with different names on them. At the very end Erza saw one with her own name on it.

Juvia was in the room, as well as two boys that Erza briefly saw earlier in the hallway. The first had spiky blonde hair and a more muscular build. His reasons for being in the Rehabilitation Center wasn't as painfully obvious as the other boy's. He had longer dark hair cover most of his face with one red eye showing. His scrubs hung very loosely on his body. The girls' scrubs had a small flower by the collar, no doubt showing that they were female scrubs, while the boys' scrubs were bare by the collar. The boy with dark hair had a flower on his collar, which scared Erza a little. He was so small he had to wear female scrubs and they were still a large on him. He clearly struggled with his weight.

"We have your schoolwork in your bin," Mavis told Erza. She quickly wrote READING on the board before taking a seat at her desk. She pulled out a book and began reading, not intending to watch the teenagers.

Erza went over to her bin and found a book inside. She was surprised to see that it was the same one she was reading at Mermaid Heel before her...incident. It made sense that they would all have to keep up with their regular schoolwork, she supposed. She sat down on the only free beanbag chair and looked at the two boys. "I'm Erza," she introduced herself.

The blonde boy was just sitting down with his own book. "I'm Sting," he said. "I've been here for one year."

The other boy shifted in his beanbag chair, slightly uncomfortable. "I'm Rogue," he said. "Uh, I've been here two weeks." It was obvious that he only told the last bit of information because Sting did.

Erza was the only one that didn't begin reading her book right away. She tried at first, but after reading the same paragraph six times, she gave up. She set the book beside her and looked at the three teenagers around her. Juvia had already said that she had tried to commit suicide and Rogue was obviously there because of an eating disorder, but what about Sting? He clearly didn't have an eating disorder and he wasn't twitchy like Amelia. He may have tried to commit suicide, as well, but she couldn't be sure. After looking closely at him long enough, she noticed that she saw faint lines beneath the light fabric of his scrubs.

Not lines, _scars. _


	23. Chapter 23: Day 1 (Cont'd)

**I want to give a big shout-out to Reginna Grace for getting me off my butt!  
**

**Last chapter I asked you all if you want the story to be GraLu, and I got some pretty mixed reviews. I'm going to create a poll on my profile for this story, so if you care about the pairings in the story, please go check it out! I'm going to keep JeRza, of course, so the poll will involve every other character. **

**Question of the Chapter: What would you guys think about me writing my first novel based on this story? **

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_**Day 1 (Cont')**_

After First Education, which seemed to last forever, it was time for lunch. Erza was surprised at how hungry she was. She was actually glad to hear the sharp ringing from the hallway. She quickly put her book back into her bin and followed Juvia, Rogue, and Sting out of the room. Harcos and Amelia were leaving E2 as she stepped into the hallway, as well as another boy that seemed younger and had black hair. Rather than getting on the elevator, they all went into C3, which was another cafeteria.

"I'm Erza," Erza said to the young boy as they were waiting in the lunch line.

"Romeo," the boy muttered. He grabbed his tray, glared at her, then went to sit at the table.

Erza was a little surprised at the rude behavior of Romeo, but she tried not to let that bother her. Not everyone was going to like her, after all. She grabbed her own tray which consisted of a hamburger, a carton of whole milk, and a banana, and she went to sit at the table. This table was larger, but only half of it was used. Romeo sat at one end by himself and everyone else sat together at the other end. Romeo seemed to be having an engaging conversation with himself, so Erza went by everyone else. She sat at the end beside Amelia and across from Rogue.

Sting, who was sitting beside Amelia, looked over at Erza's tray. "Don't eat all at once now," he joked. "I know it looks amazing."

The hamburger looked anything but amazing. The burnt patty was on a whole wheat bun, the lettuce was wilted, and the mayonnaise was warm. Erza didn't even like mayonnaise. Remembering that she could get in trouble for not eating, she quickly ate the hamburger. She was very grateful for the milk, which was large enough to wash down the flavor of the terrible main dish.

"Rogue, eat the banana," Juvia said. She was sitting beside Rogue. He hadn't touched his tray. "You know you're going to get in trouble again."

Rogue's face went pale. He clearly wasn't amused by the idea of eating anything. Erza felt bad for him. He was still fairly new, after all. The only thing making her eat was the idea of getting out of there and back home. Did Rogue have such motivation? Probably not.

"They're not going to just give you Reflection Time, you know," Harcos said, being oddly helpful. "It's going to be worse from here on out. I've seen it before." She had been there the longest out of everyone, so it made sense that she has seen someone else with an eating disorder come through. It was hard for Erza to believe that someone with an eating disorder was able to get out before she did, but then she realized that the person probably got out because they starved to death. The thought made her shiver.

"I'll eat your sandwich," Sting said. He looked behind him to make sure the women at the window wasn't watching, then he ate the hamburger in three bites. Surprising Erza even more, Amelia took Rogue's banana. "You have to drink your milk, though," Sting said. It took him a few minutes, but Rogue finished his milk just as the bell rang again.

After lunch one of three things could happen for everyone. If they were bad in the past twenty-four hours, they were sent to Reflection Time. Erza knew that Reflection Time was in either room R1 or R2. Rogue was sent there for not eating dinner the night before. If you weren't being sent to Reflection Time, then you could be sent to Private Discussions. And, if you were lucky enough to not have done anything wrong or need counseling, you were sent to Social Time. Erza was sent to D2 across the hall for Private Discussion. Sting was with her.

Erza wasn't surprised to see Dr. Oracion sitting on a plush chair with a clipboard resting on his lap. "Please, have a seat," he told them, motioning to the couch perpendicular to him. There was also another chair. Erza and Sting sat on opposite ends of the couch. "This is Private Discussions, which is a place for extra help for any patients that need help in a group."

Sting looked at Erza in surprise. She assumed that he wasn't aware that she was sent to the Rehabilitation Center for cutting herself. Juvia told her that Private Discussions was basically used if someone had a relapse and there was someone else with the same problem. So, in theory, if Sting had cut himself somehow then he and Erza would both be sent to Private Discussions so they could both hear the advice that Sting would be given, since it could benefit both of them. Erza guessed that the only reason they were both called in was because she was new and they both had problems with self harm.

It turned out that Erza was exactly right. Dr. Oracion went on to them the value of having a "buddy" to confide in and the power of recovery in numbers. He told them that he hoped that they would find a friend in each other. Together, he said, they could discover the "wonderful world of recovery."

After the long session with Dr. Oracion in Private Discussions, it was time for Second Education. Erza discovered that she needed to go a different room than before. Dr. Oracion supervised room E4, so they walked onto the fourth floor together. They passed V5, V6, and D1 on the way. Erza also had Second Education with Harcos, Romeo, and Rogue. Romeo continued to have a conversation with himself, so Erza had a hard time working on the math work assigned to her.

Fitness Time, which was supervised by Dr. Vermillion, came after Second Education. Both the boys and girls went down the hallway on the fourth floor to F4. There was a large gymnasium, which was where they all played basketball. They all drew straws for teams, and Erza ended up being on a team with Rogue, Romeo, and Harcos. Even though her team had more people, they still ended up losing. Rogue was very frail, Romeo fought with himself the whole time, and Harcos just didn't care. After Fitness Time, they all went into the adjoined locker rooms, gender split, of course, and took their daily showers. They all changed into a new set of light blue scrubs.

Dinner followed, and Erza was back in C1 with all the girls. She took that time to ask about Romeo. She found out that he had Multiple Personality Disorder and everyone refers to his second personality as Juliet as a joke. He is a lot nicer when he is Juliet, they said. Romeo was only fourteen and had been there five months. He had a birthday the month before, which meant everyone got to have a small piece of cake for dinner and everyone got Social Time instead of Group Discussion that night. Erza only hoped she wasn't still there when her birthday came around.

All the girls seemed disappointed when dinner was over. They explained that Group Discussions was next, which was held in D1 on the fourth floor. Either Dr. Lates or Dr. Tenrou hosted Group Discussions, and today Dr. Tenrou was hosting. Just as Dr. Vermillion and Dr. Oracion had done, Dr. Tenrou stressed that Erza call him Zeref. Zeref decided to spend the time allowing all the teenagers to get to know each other, so they basically had Social Time.

When Erza was able to go back to her room after Group Discussions, she fell asleep the moment her head hit her thin pillow.


End file.
